Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from An Ancient Geography, Classical and Sacred
Erato'sthenes of Cyre'ne, born 276 B. O., composed a great geographical work, which contained a summary of all that had been written on the subject up to that time. He first brought astronomy and geometry to his aid in calculating the measure ments of the earth, and thus enjoys the honor of being the first to make geography a science. He determined approximately the circumference of the earth. He recognised the division of the globe into two hemispheres by the (equator, and this equator he divided into three hundred and sixty degrees, reckoning each degree at seven hundred stadia. He calculated the length of the inhabited earth at seventy-eight thousand stadia, and its breadth at thirty-eight thousand stadia. A line parallel to the equator and passing through the island of Rhodes, Caria, Lycaonia, Catao onia, Media, and the Caspian gates as far as the Indian Cau'casus, divided, according to him, the inhabited earth into two equal parts, the Northern half being Europa, and the Southern, Asia.
Geography is much indebted to polybius, the historian (born about 204 B. Who collected a great deal of information during his extensive travels. He, like his predecessors, regarded the earth as a globe, and recognised the three grand divisions of Asia, Libya, and Europa. He divided the surface of the earth into six zones.
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