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LONGITUDE IN PTOLEMY’S GEOGRAPHY: WHY DOES HIS MAP LOOK ELONGATED FROM WEST TO EAST?
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LONGITUDE IN PTOLEMY’S GEOGRAPHY: WHY DOES HIS MAP LOOK ELONGATED FROM WEST TO EAST?
Annotation
PII
S0205-96060000616-4-1
Publication type
Article
Status
Published
Authors
Dmitriy Shcheglov 
Edition
Volume 36 Issue 2
Pages
209-239
Abstract
It is well known that Ptolemy’s Geography used systematically exaggerated values for longitudes, which made his map look excessively stretched from West to East in comparison with modern maps. According to one recent hypothesis, the source of Ptolemy’s inaccurate longitudes lay in his adoption of a new value for the Earth’s circumference. Ptolemy chose to rely on an estimate provided by Posidonius instead of a smaller estimate by Eratosthenes, and as a result, all the distances converted from linear into angular units became exaggerated. The present article tests this hypothesis and finds that, on the one hand, it explains the stretching of the map only partially, and in some cases does not fit the data at all. On the other hand, the stretching of Ptolemy’s map can largely be explained by a systematic exaggeration of the distances between basic points.
Keywords
ancient geography, geographical longitude, stade as the unit of length, Claudius Ptolemy, Marinus of Tyre, Eratosthenes, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Date of publication
01.04.2015
Number of purchasers
1
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1174
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0.0 (0 votes)
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