Contribution to Book
Mapping the World: Greek Initiatives from Homer to Eratosthenes
Ancient Perspectives: Maps and Their Place in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome
(2012)
Abstract
This chapter examines maps and mapmaking in ancient Greece, with reference to initiatives from Homer to Eratosthenes. It begins with a discussion of the challenges involved in the study of Greek cartography and the function of maps as an important expression of Greek culture. It considers Greek maps in relation to abstract philosophical theories and their depiction of topography and relative distances as well as cosmogony and humanity's place in the universe. It also looks at early Greek maps, like those made in Miletus and its thinkers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus. In addition, it describes the maps attributed to Aristagoras, Herodotus, Democritus, and Hipparchus and analyzes the representation of spherical earth in Greek maps. Finally, it describes the Museum at Alexandria, a center of learning founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2012
Editor
Richard Talbert
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
ISBN
9780226789378
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226789408.003.0004
Citation Information
Georgia L. Irby. "Mapping the World: Greek Initiatives from Homer to Eratosthenes" ChicagoAncient Perspectives: Maps and Their Place in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome (2012) p. 81 - 108 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/georgia-irby/11/