Ancient geography : the discovery of the world in classical Greece and Rome

173 Pages·2015·1.56 MB·English

by  Roller

Duane W. Roller is Professor Emeritus of Classics at The Ohio State
University. His previous books include The Geography of Strabo: An English
Translation, with Introduction and Notes (2014); Cleopatra: A Biography
(2010); Through the Pillars of Herakles: Greco-Roman Exploration of the
Atlantic (2005); and The Building Program of Herod the Great (1998).
‘For the first time in several generations, Duane W. 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 W. 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 W. 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
ANCIENT
GEOGRAPHY
The Discovery of the World in Classical
Greece and Rome
D W. R
UANE OLLER
Published in 2015 by
I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
London • New York
www.ibtauris.com
Copyright © 2015 Duane W. Roller The right of Duane W. Roller to be
identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part
thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publisher.
Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this
book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.
References to websites were correct at the time of writing.
Library of Classical Studies 9
ISBN: 978 1 78453 076 1
eISBN: 978 0 85773 923 0
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP
record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog
Card Number: available
CONTENTS
List of Maps
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
 1. The Beginnings
 2. The Expansion of the Greek Geographical Horizon
 3. The Spread of Geographical Knowledge and Scholarship in the Classical
Period
 4. Pytheas and Alexander
 5. The Legacy of Alexander and Pytheas
 6. Eratosthenes and the Invention of the Discipline of Geography
 7. The New Roman World
 8. Geography in the Augustan Period
 9. The Remainder of the First Century AD
10. The Later Roman Empire
Appendix 1: The Major Sources for Greek and Roman Geography
Appendix 2: Some Further Notes on Mapping in Antiquity
Notes
Bibliography
MAPS
 1. The extent of the ancient world in Hellenistic times.
 2. The oikoumene, as outlined by Eratosthenes.
 3. The world known to Homer.
 4. The spread of Greek settlement in the Archaic period.
 5. The zones.
 6. The world of Pytheas.
 7. Toponyms associated with the eastern expedition of Alexander the Great.
 8. The prime parallel and prime meridian of Eratosthenes.
 9. Northern Europe.
10. Far eastern toponyms.
11. Interior Africa.
12. The limits of ancient geographical knowledge.
ABBREVIATIONS
AAntHung: Acta antiqua hungarica
AFM: Annali della facoltà di lettere e filosofia, Universitá di Macerata AJA:
American Journal of Archaeology AncW: Ancient World
ANRW: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt AntCl: L'antiquité
classique
AR: Archaeological Reports
BA: The Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (ed. Richard J. A.
Talbert, Princeton 2000) BAR-IS: British Archaeological Reports,
International Series BNJ: Brill's New Jacoby
BNP: Brill's New Pauly
BSR: Annual of the British School at Rome CAH: Cambridge Ancient History
ClMed: Classica et Mediaevalia
CP: Classical Philology
CQ: Classical Quarterly
CR: Classical Review
CRIPEL: Cahiers de recherches de l'Institut de papyrologie et d'égyptologie de
Lille CW: Classical World
EANS: Encyclopedia of the Ancient Natural Scientists (ed. Paul T. Keyser and
Georgia L. Irby-Massie, London 2008) FGrHist: Felix Jacoby, Die
Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Leiden 1923–) FHG: Karl Müller,
Fragmenta historicorum graecorum (Paris 1841–70) G&R: Greece and
Rome
GRBS: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies JAOS: Journal of the American
Oriental Society JARCE: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt
JHS: Journal of Hellenic Studies
JRA: Journal of Roman Archaeology
JRS: Journal of Roman Studies
NC: Numismatic Chronicle
OJA: Oxford Journal of Archaeology