Taprobana (Latin:Taprobana;Ancient Greek:Ταπροβανᾶ),Trapobana, andTaprobane (Ταπροβανῆ,Ταπροβάνη[1]) was the name by which the Indian Ocean island ofSri Lanka was known to theancient Greeks.
Tabrobane is suggested to be derived fromSanskrit "Tamraparni".[2] This name could be a reference to the "copper colored" shores of Sri Lanka, and may have entered Greek via theSinhalese and/or thePali "Tambapanni".[3]
Reports of the island's existence were known before the time ofAlexander the Great as inferred fromPliny. The treatiseDe Mundo, supposedly byAristotle (died 322 BC) but according to others byChrysippus the Stoic (280 to 208 BC), incorrectly states that theisland is as large as Great Britain (in fact, it is only about one third as big). The name was first reported to Europeans by the Greek geographerMegasthenes around 290 BC.Herodotus (444 BC) does not mention the island. The first Geography in which it appears is that ofEratosthenes (276 to 196 BC) and was later adopted byClaudius Ptolemy (139 AD) inhis geographical treatise to identify a relatively large island south of continental Asia.[4] Writing during the era ofAugustus, Greek geographerStrabo makes reference to the island, noting that "Taprobane sends great amounts of ivory, tortoise-shell and other merchandise to the markets of India.".[5] Eratosthenes' map of the (for the Greeks) known world, c. 194 BC also shows the island south of India called Taprobane.
Stephanus of Byzantium writes that a metropolis of the island was calledArgyra (Ancient Greek:Ἀργυρᾶ, "Silver")[6] and that also there was a river which was called Phasis (Ancient Greek:Φᾶσις).[7]
Aelian writes that he had heard that the island does not have cities, but 750 villages.[8]
The identity ofPtolemy's Taprobane has been always associated with the present daySri Lanka from maps of ancient antiquity until the medieval maps ofAbu-Rehan (1030) andEdrisi (1154) and in the writing ofMarco Polo (1292).[9] Furthermore, most of the place names marked on the map can be identified with place name of the places in ancient Sri Lanka.[10]
Also, the relative position of the island in comparison to India, being centrally situated on the Indian Ocean trade route and a major trading center for trade in elephants and golden spice as described by ancient Greek and Roman travelers, further validate the assignment of the name to Sri Lanka.
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However, on the maps of the Middle Ages, the fashion of using Latinised names and delineating places with fanciful figures contributed to absurd designs and confusion regarding the actual place of Taprobane. In the fifteenth century,Niccolò de' Conti mistakenly identified Taprobana as a much smaller island.[11] In 1507,Martin Waldseemuller still assigned Taprobana to Sri Lanka.[12]Sebastian Munster's 1580 map identified Taprobana as Sumatra, where the German title,Sumatra Ein Grosse Insel, means, "Sumatra, a large island". Munster's map created a debate on the identity of Taprobane. Due to this debate following possibilities were considered valid for Taprobana in the Middle Ages:
However, this issue was resolved with the rediscovery of Ptolemy's work in the 1400s. Ptolemy's map had been lost since the time of its production around the 2nd century AD. However, copies were rediscovered in the Middle East around 1400 AD. Moreover, by that time, the Portuguese had made their way into Asia. They had knowledge of both Sri Lanka (then Ceylan) and Sumatra from at least 80 years before. Munster apparently based his identification of Taprobane with Sumatra on 16th-century knowledge. Therefore, it can be mostly believed that this one-off identification of Taprobane with Sumatra was possible due to misassignment.[13]
Taprobana is mentioned in the firststrophe of thePortuguese epic poemOs Lusíadas byLuís de Camões (c. 1524 – 10 June 1580).
As armas e os barões assinalados,
Que da ocidental praia Lusitana,
Por mares nunca de antes navegados,
Passaram ainda além daTaprobana,
Em perigos e guerras esforçados,
Mais do que prometia a força humana,
E entre gente remota edificaram
Novo Reino, que tanto sublimaram
"The armed and noble barons,of the western shores of Portugal,Through seas never sailed before,They passed beyond Taprobana,In dangers and difficult wars,showing more than the usual human strength,Among remote people they builtNew Kingdom, which is quite heavenly."
In literary works, Taprobana was mentioned inTommaso Campanella'sThe City of the Sun, written in 1602.[14]Jorge Luis Borges mentions the island in the storyThe Lottery in Babylon in the collectionThe Garden of Forking Paths (1941) of his bookFictions (1944).[15] Toprobana is the fictional location of the sky elevator inArthur C. Clarke's science fiction novelThe Fountains of Paradise (1979). British rock bandMy Vitriol's 2001 debut albumFinelines features a track called Taprobane, courtesy of the band's lead singer Som Wardner who is of Sri Lankan origin. InMiguel de Cervantes’ novelDon Quixote, the titular protagonist mistakes a drove of sheep for an army from Taprobana.
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