Greek and Roman Geography

The anonymous Πόντου Εὐξείνου καὶ Μαιωτίδος λίμνης περίπλους had its editio princeps in 1829 by Friedrich Osann 1 in the Disputatio de fragmenti peripli Graeco e codice Hafniensi deprompto. The work contains 8 paragraphs, that can be divided into 3 sections: the first one (1) gives an ἀναμέτρησις of the oikoumene, which reminds of Eratosthenes' measurement, the second one (2-5) offers different distances in the Pontus Euxinus and the third (6-8) there is a brief report on metric correspondences (stade and mile) and the length of the year. The aim of this paper is to present this-almost unknown-text, that raises many problems, starting from its transmission, reception, the composite structure of its three parts, and then shifting attention to an analysis of the content. It will then be possible to draw some observations on the possible sources and the cultural context, in which this Byzantine compilation may have been produced. Making an initial hypothesis it is meaningful to think to the 12 th century, when the geographical studies and the collections and compendia of classical sources return very much in force and attracted a lot of interest.

This paper examines the comparative contributions of Strabo and Eratosthenes to the development of geography. Geographic thought during the ancient world varied from the act of map making, nature of places, origin and conception of the earth, methods of measurement, conception and description of the known world, through methods of construction of roads and pyramids. Strabo was an explorer and used his experience from travels to describe the varied places of the world and how people lived and were governed. Strabo was the first to introduce the concept of classification and regionalization in geography. He was the first to describe the weather patterns and the theory of profoundness of the earth. Strabo was criticized for being a descriptive geographer but remains the first scholar to be named as a professor of Geography. Eratosthenes on the other hand, was a scientist, discoverer, explorer and observer of geographic phenomena, he made great measurements, calculation and discoveries of places, objects, events and phenomena of the earth's resourcses. Eratosthenes was the first to measure and calculate the radius and circumference of the earth, he was the first to calculate the tilt of the earth, the size and shape; and distance of the earth to the sun. Most of his observations and measurements of heavenly patterns and objects were absolutely accurate and of high esteemed, these findings and discoveries serves as focal and reference points for geographic thought during the ancient time and a base for modern geography. Eratosthenes was criticized of as a jack of all specialties', having vast knowledge in diverse field of disciplines. The study utilized the methods of pure content analysis and review of literature. Findings revealed that there is need to assess the geography of ancient time for presence understanding and to make future projection and also to eamine the contributions of and relevanc of Strabo and Eratosthenes to the development of geography.

This paper places the concept of ‘common sense geography’ as developed by the members of Topoi research group C-5 within the context of ancient geographical literature. For the first time, a consistent model of arranging and classifying Greek and Roman geographical texts from a historical perspective is presented.

In the ancient tradition about the Hyperboreans, two passage from Pomponius Mela (III, 37) and
Pliny the Elder (IV, 89) provide a similar description of the funerary rituals practised among this people. The
individual decides of their own free will to end their life by diving into the sea from the top of a rock. This
precipitation, however, transgresses all Greek and Roman funerary norms according to which the corpse must
be buried. The two ancient authors thus construct a total utopia in which the individual lives in harmony with
the community until death, which involves neither corpse nor grave and therefore no defilement.

Dans la tradition antique décrivant les Hyperboréens s’inscrivent deux passages de Pomponius Mela
(III, 37) et Pline l’Ancien (IV, 89), qui livrent une description commune des rituels funéraires pratiqués chez ce
peuple. L’individu décide de lui-même de mettre fin à ses jours en plongeant dans la mer du haut d’un rocher.
Cette précipitation transgresse cependant toutes les normes funéraires grecques et romaines où le cadavre doit
recevoir une sépulture. Les auteurs construisent donc une utopie totale où l’individu vit en harmonie avec la
communauté jusque dans la mort qui n’implique ni cadavre ni tombe et donc aucune souillure.

Geus, Klaus: Krokodile, Elefanten, Wale und Bohnen: über Kontingenz und Valenz von zoologischen und botanischen Argumenten in den geographischen Kon-zeptionen der Antike. In: Lafer, Renate; Dolenz, Heimo; Luik, Martin (Hrsg.): Antiquitates variae: Festschrift für Karl Strobel zum 65. Geburtstag. Rahden/Westf.: VML Vlg. Marie Leidorf, 2019 (Internationale Archäologie – Studia honoraria). S. 81–96 [ISBN: 9783896465580].

¿Se puede navegar por un estrecho que no existe? ¿Es posible atravesar un canal imaginario que, aunque figura en los mapas, solo es real en la teoría, pero no sobre el terreno? La respuesta inmediata que dicta la lógica sería, desde luego, que no. Y, sin embargo, eso es precisamente lo que parece haber sucedido en el extremo norte del mundo habitado poco después de la muerte de Alejandro Magno, momento en el que, según se cuenta, la flota macedónica recorrió la costa de Asia desde el Indo hasta el mar Caspio, también llamado Hircanio. Tal viaje contribuía a demostrar de manera empírica la antigua idea de los primeros filósofos jonios, y herencia mítica 1 , de que la tierra que habitamos se encuentra rodeada por todas partes por las aguas del océano, al modo de una enorme isla subdividida en los diversos continentes.

Geus, Klaus: Wer ist Marinos von Tyros? Zur Hauptquelle des Ptolemaios in seiner "Geographie". In: Geographia antiqua 26 (2017), 13-22.
Abstract – As Ptolemy himself acknowledged, Marinos of Tyros was the main source for his Geographike Hyphegesis, his famous „Introduction to Geography“ (ca. AD 150). Next to nothing is known about this enigmatic geographer who wrote at the beginning of the second century AD. Several fragments exhibit that Marinos drew on unpublished sources, mined Latin geographical and topographical texts and had access to Roman military and administrative material which was otherwise inaccessible to ancient geographers. This makes it plausible that Marinos was not a Greek but a Roman geographer („Marinus“), probably one within the higher Roman administration. The author proposes to identify Marinos of Tyros with L. Iulius Marinus Caecilius Simplex, consul suffectus of the year AD 101. This Marinus´ origo was indeed Phoenicia. The denomination „Marinos of Tyros“ fits both the biographical information derived from Ptolemy and the common usage for Roman personalities in Greek texts from the Imperial period. The suggestions outlined in the article not only account for some peculiarities in connection with Marinos but also explain the numerous discrepancies between Ptolemy´s Geographike Hyphegesis and other geographical works in antiquity.

Dan, Anca; Crom, Wolfgang; Geus, Klaus; Görz, Günther; Guckelsberger, Kurt; König, Viola; Poiss, Thomas; Thiering, Martin: Common Sense Geography and ancient geographical texts. In: eTOPOI 6 (2016) (Special volume: Space and Knowledge: Topoi research papers, eds Gerd Graßhoff and Michael Meyer, pp. 571–597.[ISSN 2192-2608].

Geus, Klaus: „Er hat die Oikumene der römischen Herrschaft unterworfen“: Bemerkungen zu den Raumvorstellungen in der Zeit des Augustus. In: Baltrusch, Ernst; Wendt, Christian (eds.): Der Erste: Augustus und der Beginn einer neuen Epoche. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern / Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2016, pp. 76–85, 159–160 (Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie / Sonderbände der Antiken Welt) [ISBN: 978-3-8053-5033-4].

Geus, Klaus: Paradoxography and geography in antiquity: Some thoughts about the ParadoxographusVaticanus. In: González Ponce, Francisco J.; Gómez Espelosín, F[rancisco] Javier; Chávez Reino, Antonio L. (eds.): La letra y la carta: Descripción verbal y representación gráfica en los diseños terrestres grecolatinos; Estudios en honor de Pietro Janni. Sevilla: Editorial Unversidad de Sevilla / Alcalá de Henares: Serviciode publicaciones de la Universidad de Alcalá, 2016 (Monografías de GAHIA), pp. 243–58. [ISBN: 978-84-472-1835-6 / 978-84-16599-67-7].

Around 500 BC, the Pythagoreans and Eleates put forward the idea that the earth is not a disc but a globe. At least at the time of Plato and Aristotle, philosophers and scientists accepted this new theory. Nevertheless, the age-old concept of a flat earth did not die out in antiquity. Resistance to the new concept can not only be found among the vulgus (Pliny) and philosophical groups like Epicureans, but also among Christians of later Roman time. Renown writers like Augustine, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Kosmas Indikopleustes attacked the "modern" theory with different arguments. This paper examines the reasons behind this alleged "Wissenschaftsfeindlichkeit". It also includes the first translation of a Syriac text of Theodore of Mopsuestia.

The label ‘Illyrians’ was used in different contexts, probably developing as an ethnographic generalisation of foreigners related to similar indigenous language(s). In all certainty it developed in the sixth century BC but the evidence we have appears only in the fifth century. Later perceptions of ‘Illyrians’ are related to political and territorial contexts, first to the political alliance of the Hellenistic-era Illyrian kingdom, and after that to the Roman use of this term in the context of early imperial expansion.