Pytheas of Massilia, Ptolemy, Clan Gunn and the Orkney Islands origin myth
Pytheas of Massilia, Ptolemy, Clan Gunn and the Orkney Islands origin myth
The traditional Clan Gunn historical view is that the ‘Chief’ Gunns descended from the Orkney Islands ruling family, with the very unlikely implication that all Gunns share this descent. This Orkney Islands descent idea is wrong in so many ways and is discussed elsewhere on this site.
But how did this myth start? Obviously one must consider wish fulfilment in the 1800s; due to the British Royal Family and Sir Walter Scott, Clan history became popular – and often fictional. But there may well be more than 18th romanticisation to blame for the Clan Gunn Orkney Islands myth.
One needs to go back to the Romans - and earlier. Ptolemy (c. 90 CE - c.168 CE) records ‘Orcas’ or ‘Orkas’ – the Orkneys – but on mainland Britain. ‘Orcas’ is often thought of as being Duncansby Head[1] but there is definitely an alternative view (rightly or wrongly) which places Orkas in Strathnaver - ‘Strathnavern which Ptolemy called Orcas[2]’; ‘Orcas a promontory on the north side of Scotland’[3]; ‘The highest is in Strathnaver, and to Ptolemy it is Orcas or Tarvedum[4]’ and ‘Torriedale Head seems to be Orcas Promonorium of that map, unless Strathy Head should be Orcas[5]’ and so on. To be fair, Ptolemy is repeating a position put forward by Pytheas of Massilia (Marseilles) circa 325 BCE who also put Orkas in the northeast corner of mainland Britain.
The implication for Gunn history is interesting; was there a tendency to accept - or hope for - Orkney Islands links to the Clan Gunn due to these very early historians misplacing[6] where the Orkney Islands were? I mean, the simplistic argument would go ‘Of course the Clan Gunn is descended from the Orkney Islands – even Ptolemy marked Strathnaver as Orkney land...’
[1] http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/earlyrefs.htm accesed 29 April 2014.
[2] Page 15, George Buchanan, The History of Scotland, 1827 edition; also supported in his 1751 edition (the 1852 edition suggests otherwise).
[3] Alexander Macbean, A Dictionary of Ancient Geography, 1773
[4] http://maps.nls.uk/atlas/blaeu/page.cfm?id=917 accessed 29 April 2014; being from Joan Blaeu 1596-1673 ‘Scotiae’ with later commentary stored by the National Library of Scotland and http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_042/42_079_094.pdf .
[5] http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/scottish-history-society-cn/publications-of-the-scottish-history-society-volume-1-toc/page-17-publications-of-the-scottish-history-society-volume-1-toc.shtml accessed 29 April 2014.
[6] This misplacement applied to pre-Pictish and Pictish times; the Norse were not in the Orkneys at that time.
But how did this myth start? Obviously one must consider wish fulfilment in the 1800s; due to the British Royal Family and Sir Walter Scott, Clan history became popular – and often fictional. But there may well be more than 18th romanticisation to blame for the Clan Gunn Orkney Islands myth.
One needs to go back to the Romans - and earlier. Ptolemy (c. 90 CE - c.168 CE) records ‘Orcas’ or ‘Orkas’ – the Orkneys – but on mainland Britain. ‘Orcas’ is often thought of as being Duncansby Head[1] but there is definitely an alternative view (rightly or wrongly) which places Orkas in Strathnaver - ‘Strathnavern which Ptolemy called Orcas[2]’; ‘Orcas a promontory on the north side of Scotland’[3]; ‘The highest is in Strathnaver, and to Ptolemy it is Orcas or Tarvedum[4]’ and ‘Torriedale Head seems to be Orcas Promonorium of that map, unless Strathy Head should be Orcas[5]’ and so on. To be fair, Ptolemy is repeating a position put forward by Pytheas of Massilia (Marseilles) circa 325 BCE who also put Orkas in the northeast corner of mainland Britain.
The implication for Gunn history is interesting; was there a tendency to accept - or hope for - Orkney Islands links to the Clan Gunn due to these very early historians misplacing[6] where the Orkney Islands were? I mean, the simplistic argument would go ‘Of course the Clan Gunn is descended from the Orkney Islands – even Ptolemy marked Strathnaver as Orkney land...’
[1] http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/earlyrefs.htm accesed 29 April 2014.
[2] Page 15, George Buchanan, The History of Scotland, 1827 edition; also supported in his 1751 edition (the 1852 edition suggests otherwise).
[3] Alexander Macbean, A Dictionary of Ancient Geography, 1773
[4] http://maps.nls.uk/atlas/blaeu/page.cfm?id=917 accessed 29 April 2014; being from Joan Blaeu 1596-1673 ‘Scotiae’ with later commentary stored by the National Library of Scotland and http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_042/42_079_094.pdf .
[5] http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/scottish-history-society-cn/publications-of-the-scottish-history-society-volume-1-toc/page-17-publications-of-the-scottish-history-society-volume-1-toc.shtml accessed 29 April 2014.
[6] This misplacement applied to pre-Pictish and Pictish times; the Norse were not in the Orkneys at that time.