150:
swamp teeming with mosquitoes and other insects. The only large animals in the Sudd were the crocodiles and hippos that occupied the muddy pools within its vast expanse. Those who entered this region had to endure severe heat and risk disease and starvation. The Sudd was discovered to be too deep to be crossed safely on foot, but its waters were also too shallow to be explored any further by boat. The Romans ‘reached an area where the swamp could only bear a small boat containing one person’. At this point the party despaired of ever finding a definite source for the Nile and turned back reluctantly to report their findings to the emperor in Rome. They had probably reached a position nearly 1,500 miles south of the Roman-Egyptian border.
187:
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149:
From Meroe the Roman party travelled 600 miles up the White Nile, until they reached the swamp-like Sudd in what is now southern Sudan, a fetid wetland filled with ferns, papyrus reeds and thick mats of rotting vegetation. In the rainy season it covers an area larger than
England, with a vast humid
540:
221:
The outlet of Lake
Victoria sends around 300 cubic meters per second (11,000 ft/s) of water over the falls, squeezed into a gorge less than ten metres (30 ft) wide: these falls are similar in shape to the ones described by the legionaries.
533:
526:
194:
Furthermore, Seneca wrote that the legionaries told him that the water of the Nile River, that jumped through two huge rocks, was coming from a large lake in Africa. This lake, according to
Vannini, could only be
292:), he marched into the interior of the continent, up to two large lakes behind which rose the snow-capped mountains from where he thought the Nile was born. He called the snow-capped peaks of the Meru and
218:. At the top of Murchison Falls, the Nile forces its way through a gap in the rocks only 7 metres (23 ft) wide, and tumbles 43 metres (141 ft), then flows westward into Lake Albert.
160:
According to Seneca the small group of praetorian guards reported back to Nero stating: "we personally saw two rocks from which an immense quantity of water issued".
323:, who attested that in the center of the African continent there were certainly those large lakes fed by the "Mountains of the Moon" from which the Nile emerged.
84:
wrote about this exploration and detailed that the sources were from a big lake in central Africa, south of the Sudd. Other Roman historians, such as
708:
206:
Indeed, the
Murchison Falls is a waterfall on the Nile that breaks the Victoria Nile, which flows across northern Uganda from Lake Victoria to
272:. Indeed, Diogene, a Roman merchant who lived between 70 and 130 AD, returning from one of his voyages, sailed along the Sinus Arabicus (the
183:" ("We saw two huge rocks, from which the power of the river went out in a powerful way...." comes from a very huge lake of the lands).
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175:(to explore the top of the world) in 61/62 AD. In this book he recorded what two legionaries told him about their discovery of the
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Historian David Braund wrote, in 2015, that Nero's expedition to the Nile's sources probably opened a new route toward the
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However, the death of Nero prevented further explorations of the Nile as well as a possible Roman conquest south of
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683:
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The account of the expedition was certainly known – a few decades later – to the Roman merchants who resided in
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203:(named the "Victoria Nile" when exits the lake), that in Jinja (Uganda) goes north toward the Murchison Falls.
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Around 61 AD Emperor Nero sent a small group of praetorian guards to explore the sources of the Nile in
88:, suggest that the exploration was done in order to prepare a conquest of Ethiopia by Nero's legions.
765:
678:
359:
211:
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229:, in 1996, that the legionaries completed a journey of exploration of more than 5,000 km from
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ibi vidimus duas petras, ex quibus ingens vis fluminis excidebat…ex magno terrarum lacu ascendere…
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70:. The Roman legionaries navigating the Nile from southern Egypt initially reached the city of
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The
Fantastic three thousand: Nero's Nile Expedition and the Make-Believe Elephants of Meroe
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The Roman legionaries navigating the Nile from southern Egypt initially reached the city of
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31:
190:
Map of the Nile river showing the location of Jinja in Uganda (near the
Murchison Falls)
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The romano-phoenician
Marinus of Tire also told the story of Diogene's journey, as did
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David Braund: Nero’s Nubian Nile, India and the rubrum mare (Tacitus, Annals 2.61)
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Some historians suggest that the Roman legionaries of Nero probably reached the
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the "Lakes of the Moon"; and those territories corresponding to the current
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Da dove viene l'acqua del Nilo? Ricerche e risposte di antichi scienziati.
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237:: a remarkable achievement done using small boats in order to bypass the
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515:. Ancient West and East, volume 21, 2022, pages 127–153.
171:, that gave details about a Neronian expedition to the
483:(1957). "Rome beyond The Southern Egyptian Frontier".
383:
Buckley & Dinter: A Companion to the
Neronian Age
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664:
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241:, a huge swamp full of dangerous Nile crocodiles.
469:. Publisher John Wiley & Sons. Oxford, 2013
252:area while allowing future Roman commerce toward
429:Spedizioni romane in centro Africa (in italian)
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44:Roman exploration of the Nile River under Nero
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399:http://www.volint.it/piroga/piroga10/nilo.pdf
397:Piroga: volume 8, numero 23, pgs. 88-91 (url=
145:, where they had difficulties going further.
78:, where they had difficulties going further.
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352:Buckley, Emma; Dinter, Martin (3 May 2013).
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248:, bypassing the dangers of piracy in the
18:Nero's exploration of the Nile river
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451:Diogene in central Africa (in italian)
225:Indeed, Vantini wrote in the magazine
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50:attempt to reach the sources of the
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179:(the origin of the Nile River): "
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467:A Companion to the Neronian Age
355:A Companion to the Neronian Age
264:Consequence of the exploration
54:. It was organized by emperor
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465:Emma Buckley, Martin Dinter.
316:the "Highlands of the Moon".
214:in the western branch of the
210:and then to the north end of
106:, but this is controversial.
418:Desert legionaries in Africa
333:Romans in sub-Saharan Africa
276:) and, after having touched
134:, VI.XXXV, p. 181-187:
110:Accounts of Seneca and Pliny
725:Borders of the Roman Empire
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393:Vantini, Giovanni (2004).
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549:Territories with limited
284:(near the border between
173:caput mundi investigandum
561:partially or temporarily
485:The Geographical Journal
314:Serengeti National Park
141:and later moved to the
74:and later moved to the
761:History of South Sudan
553:occupation and contact
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114:Accounts are found in
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751:Exploration of Africa
360:John Wiley & Sons
298:Mountains of the Moon
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169:Naturales Quaestiones
121:Naturales quaestiones
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704:Sub-Saharan Africa
404:2018-01-14 at the
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116:Seneca the Younger
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491:(1): 13–19.
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766:Expeditions
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622:Mesopotamia
310:Lake Natron
294:Kilimanjaro
212:Lake Albert
93:Roman Egypt
740:Categories
475:1118316533
339:References
306:Lake Eyasi
290:Mozambique
208:Lake Kyoga
201:White Nile
177:caput Nili
165:De Nubibus
718:See also
642:Scotland
637:Slovakia
559:Occupied
402:Archived
327:See also
286:Tanzania
227:Nigrizia
153:—
699:Somalia
689:Ireland
617:Germany
612:Georgia
600:Cherson
590:Assyria
505:1790717
274:Red Sea
250:Red Sea
62:History
632:Persia
568:Arabia
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282:Rhapta
278:Adulis
258:Azania
235:Uganda
104:Uganda
82:Seneca
68:Africa
46:was a
36:Uganda
684:India
679:China
647:Sudan
607:Dacia
501:JSTOR
270:Egypt
254:India
231:Meroe
139:Meroe
86:Pliny
72:Meroë
48:Roman
756:Nile
746:Nero
471:ISBN
364:ISBN
308:and
300:)";
288:and
280:and
256:and
239:Sudd
143:Sudd
76:Sudd
56:Nero
52:Nile
42:The
493:doi
489:123
233:to
128:'s
118:'s
102:in
34:in
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