The Roman exploration of the Nile River under Nero was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

attempt to reach the sources of the

Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...

. It was organized by emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

in 60–61 AD.

History

Emperor Nero around 61 AD sent a small group of praetorian guards to explore the sources of the Nile River in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. He did this in order to obtain information for a possible conquest of Ethiopia, as was called Equatorial Africa (and everything south of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

) by the Romans. The Roman legionaries navigating the Nile from southern Egypt initially reached the city of Meroë and later moved to the

Sudd The Sudd (' or ', Dinka: Toc) is a vast swamp in South Sudan, formed by the White Nile's '' Baḥr al-Jabal'' section. The Arabic word ' is derived from ' (), meaning "barrier" or "obstruction". The term "the sudd" has come to refer to any lar ...

, where they found huge difficulties in going further. Seneca wrote about this exploration and detailed that the sources were from a big lake in central Africa, south of the swamp region now called "the Sudd" in

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of th ...

. But other Roman historians, such as Pliny, suggest that the exploration was done in order to prepare a conquest of Ethiopia by Nero's legions. However, the death of Nero prevented further explorations of the Nile as well as a possible Roman conquest south of their

Roman Egypt , conventional_long_name = Roman Egypt , common_name = Egypt , subdivision = Province , nation = the Roman Empire , era = Late antiquity , capital = Alexandria , title_leader = Praefectus Augustalis , image_map = Roman E ...

. Some historians suggest that the Roman legionaries of Nero probably reached the

Murchison Falls Murchison Falls, also known as Kabalega Falls, is a waterfall at the apex of Lake Albert on the Victoria Nile in Uganda. At the top of Murchison Falls, the Nile forces its way through a gap in the rocks, only wide, and tumbles , before flowi ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

(but there is a major controversy about this very difficult achievement).

Accounts of Seneca and Pliny

Accounts are found in

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born ...

(VI.8.3) and Pliny ('' Natural History'', VI.XXXV, p. 181-187): The Roman legionaries navigating the Nile from southern Egypt initially reached the city of Meroe and later moved to the

, where they found huge difficulties to going further. The small group of praetorian guards reported back to Nero that, "we personally saw two rocks from which an immense quantity of water issued", according to Seneca. Some modern historians, such as Giovanni Vannini, argue that this place is the

in northern

, meaning that the Romans may have reached equatorial Africa, though this is debated. Furthermore, historian David Braund wrote, in 2015, that probably Nero's expedition to the Nile's sources opened a new route toward the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

, bypassing the dangers of piracy in the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

area while allowing future Roman commerce toward

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and

Azania Azania ( grc, Ἀζανία) is a name that has been applied to various parts of southeastern tropical Africa. In the Roman period and perhaps earlier, the toponym referred to a portion of the Southeast Africa coast extending from northern Kenya ...

.David Braund: Nero’s Nubian Nile, India and the rubrum mare (Tacitus, Annals 2.61)
/ref>

History

Accounts of Seneca and Pliny

See also

References

Further reading