Samenvatting

Before Columbus there was Eratosthenes: 'inventor' of the discipline of geography as it is known today and the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth. There was Alexander the Great: the man who sought to reach the very ends of the known world and whose empire spanned three continents, from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas. And there was Strabo: author of the Geographica, a 17-volume encyclopaedia of geographical knowledge which expounded the definition, history and mathematics of geography, both physical and human, and charted the limits of the habitable world. These are but three of a multitude of figures whose contributions to geography and human knowledge have left an enduring and indelible legacy.In this, the first major study of ancient geography and geographers to be published in English for over 60 years, Duane Roller offers a comprehensive account of these ancient pioneers and the frontiers that defined their world.From the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity, Roller maps the development of geographical scholarship from its incipient beginnings in the literature of Hesiod, Homer, Herodotus and the tragedians through to the learned compendia of Posidonius and Strabo - and the scientific discoveries of Pythagoras, Eratosthenes and Euclid that made it all possible. A vital resource for students and scholars alike, Ancient Geography: The Discovery of the World in Classical Greece and Rome is the definitive guide to how the triumphs and the errors of antiquity laid the foundations for millennia of voyaging and exploration.

Recensie(s)

'For the first time in several generations, Duane Roller offers readers a clear, comprehensive and authoritative survey of ancient geographical thought from its mythic origins in Homer right through to the fall of the Roman Empire. Ancient Geography is the distillation of decades of work on the subject by Roller, who is also a distinguished translator of the key books he discusses here. Ancient Geography immediately eclipses the introductions to the subject offered by previous scholars and should hold its place as the single key treatment of the topic for generations to come for classicists, geographers and historians alike.' Robert Mayhew, Professor of Historical Geography and Intellectual History, University of Bristol; 'In this elegant and readable narrative, Duane Roller adroitly recreates the sense of wonder, excitement, and adventure that permeated Greek and Roman geographical initiatives. The result is a vivid tapestry of the many threads of ancient geographical thought that have been untangled from myriad layers of discord, transmission, redaction, and (mis)interpretation in the ancient sources. The book will be warmly and appreciatively welcomed by students of classical history and geography and indeed by anyone with an interest in how antiquity conceived of the world and its features.' Georgia L Irby, Associate Professor of Classical Studies, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg; 'What Duane Roller has achieved in this book is impressive and invaluable. The Greek and Roman grasp of geography, from both spatial and scientific perspectives, developed remarkably over more than half a millennium. So while the approach taken here of explaining this growth chronologically might seem a straightforward task, in fact it is no such thing. Most of the relevant geographical writings and maps are lost. Even some fundamentally important Greek ideas have to be reconstructed from references by later authors who did not always agree with them, let alone perhaps fully understand them. Roller's earlier studies of such giants in this story as Pytheas, Eratosthenes and Strabo make him uniquely qualified to craft an informed, balanced, up-to-date synthesis in defiance of the never-ending obstacles. He writes in a concise, accessible style. Anyone whose imagination is fired by the absorbing puzzle of how the Greeks and Romans envisioned and recorded their surroundings both near and far should read this important book.' Richard J A Talbert, William Rand Kenan, Jr., Professor of History and Classics, University of North Carolina, editor of Ancient Perspectives: Maps and Their Place in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome

Recensie

• Bryn Mawr Classical Review (2016-11-08)

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