He was born in Cyrene (in modern-day Libya), but worked and died in Ptolemaic Alexandria. He is noted for devising a system of latitude and longitude, and for being the first known to have computed the size of the Earth. Eratosthenes was known under the name β, because he supposedly proved himself to be the second in the world in many fields. He was also reputedly known for his haughty character. Eratosthenes studied at Alexandria and for some years in Athens. In 236 BC he was appointed by Ptolemy III Euergetes I as librarian ...

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Eratosthenes, Eratosthenes - Short summary of Eratosthenes' life, Eratosthenes - Measurement of the Earth, Eratosthenes - Other work, Eratosthenes - The mysterious astronomical distances, Eratosthenes - Named after Eratosthenes

Read more here: » Eratosthenes: Encyclopedia II - Eratosthenes - Short summary of Eratosthenes' life

Including:

Callimachus - Bibliography

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Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC - 240s BC - 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC Years: 248 BC 247 BC 246 BC 245 BC 244 BC - 243 BC - 242 BC 241 BC 240 BC 239 BC 238 BC Events Aratus of Sicyon captured Corinth. Births Seleucus III Ceraunus, later King of the Seleucid dynasty(a ...

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Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC - 230s BC - 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC Years: 242 BC 241 BC 240 BC 239 BC 238 BC - 237 BC - 236 BC 235 BC 234 BC 233 BC 232 BC Events Hamilcar Barca suppresses the revolt of Carthaginian mercenaries, who had revolted over being short-changed for back pay. Quintus Fulvius Flaccus the elder is Roman consul. Births Deaths ...

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Aratus (Greek Aratos) (ca. 315 BC/310 BC – 240 BC) was a Macedonian Greek poet, known for his technical poetry. Aratus - Biography. He was born in Soli in Cilicia, later spending time at the Syrian court of Antiochus I. His principal patron was the Macedonian king Antigonus II Gonatas, whose victory over the Celts in 277 BC Aratus set to verse. He died in the capital of Macedon, Pella (now located in the periphery of Central Macedonia, Greece). Aratus - Writings. Aratus ...

Including:

Aratus - Biography Aratus - Writings Aratus - Later influence

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Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC - 230s BC - 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC Years: 243 BC 242 BC 241 BC 240 BC 239 BC - 238 BC - 237 BC 236 BC 235 BC 234 BC 233 BC Events Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus assaults Sardinia upon a mutiny of Carthaginian mercenaries on the island, and makes it into a Roman province. In the Battle of Utica, the loyal Carthaginian troops of Hamilcar Barca defeat rebellious mercenaries. Parthia breaks away from the Seleucid Empire

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Antioch on the Orontes (Greek Αντιοχεια ἡ επι Δαφνη) is located on the eastern side (left bank) of the Orontes River about 20 miles from the sea and its port, Seleucia of Pieria (Suedia, now Samandagi). It was founded as a Greek city near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, who made it the capital of his empire in Syria. Seleucus I had served as one of Alexander the Great's generals, and the name Antiochus occu ...

Including:

Antioch - Geography Antioch - History of Antioch
Antioch - Prehistory Antioch - Hellenistic age Antioch - Roman period Antioch - Early Christian-Byzantine period
Antioch - Archaeology

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There were three of four major branches of the Claudian gens at the end of the Republic. Those with the cognomen Nero were prominent patrician senators during the late Republic; they favoured the praenomen Tiberius. However, the Neros joined the gens Julia when Tiberius Claudius Nero, the son of another Ti. Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla (herself a Claudian Nero through her father Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus) was adopted ...

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Claudius gens, Claudius gens - Gens Claudia branches, Claudius gens - Notable members of the gens Claudia

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After the First Punic War concluded in 241 BC, Carthage demobilized its mercenary force in Sicily, and the soldiers were brought to Carthage to receive their discharge and final pay. Although the commander, Gisgo, sent the troops in batches to minimize the chances of disorder, payment was delayed by the Carthaginian government and eventually all the troops were brought together at Sicca 170 km south-west of the city. The combined force demanded payment, then advanced on Tunis, close ...

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Mercenary War, Mercenary War - Course of the Revolt, Mercenary War - Relations with Rome, Mercenary War - Mercenary War in Literature and Popular Culture

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Aratus' principal work, the Phaenomena ("Appearances"), versifies one or more works of Eudoxus of Cnidus. In 1,154 hexameters he lays bare the names and movements of the heavenly bodies, and the significance of various weather signs. Technical description is primary, but mythical digressions are frequent. The second half, on weather signs, has sometimes circulated under the title Diosemeia ("Signs from Zeus"), but was not originally separate. Aratus also wrote a number of other poems, many of a ...

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Aratus, Aratus - Biography, Aratus - Writings, Aratus - Later influence

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Belief in a flat Earth is found in humankind's oldest writings. In early Mesopotamian thought the world was portrayed as a flat disk floating in the ocean, and this forms the premise for early Greek maps like those of Anaximander and Hecataeus. By classical times an alternative idea, that Earth was spherical, had appeared. This was espoused by Pythagoras apparently on aesthetic grounds, as he also held all other celestial bodies to be spherical. Aristotle provided physical evidence for the spherical Earth: Ships actually ...

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Flat Earth, Flat Earth - Antiquity, Flat Earth - The Early Church, Flat Earth - The Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Early Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Later Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Modern times, Flat Earth - Notes

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Antioch - Prehistory. The site appears not to have been found wholly uninhabited. A settlement, Meroe, boasting a shrine of Anait, called by the Greeks the "Persian Artemis," had long been located there, and was ultimately included in the eastern suburbs of the new city; and there seems to have been a village on the spur (Mt. Silpius), of which we hear in late authors under the name Io, or Iopolis. This name was always adduced as evidence by Antiochenes (e.g. Libanius) anxious to affil ...

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Antioch, Antioch - Geography, Antioch - History of Antioch, Antioch - Prehistory, Antioch - Hellenistic age, Antioch - Roman period, Antioch - Early Christian-Byzantine period, Antioch - Archaeology

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Initially, a smaller mercenary revolt occurred on Sardinia, and that army took control of the island. When the conflict in Africa began to go against the mercenaries there, the Sardinian troops appealed to Rome for protection. However, it was in Rome's self-interest for Carthage to achieve stability and to recover economically so it could continue paying the indemnities imposed after the First Punic War. Rome rejected the appeal, and indirectly supported its former adversary by releasing Carthaginian prisoners and prohibiting trade with the ...

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Mercenary War, Mercenary War - Course of the Revolt, Mercenary War - Relations with Rome, Mercenary War - Mercenary War in Literature and Popular Culture

Read more here: » Mercenary War: Encyclopedia II - Mercenary War - Relations with Rome

Eusebius of Caesarea in his Praeparatio Evangelica includes a brief chapter of three sentences on celestial distances (Book XV, Chapter 53). He states simply that Eratosthenes found the distance to the sun to be "σταδιων μυριαδας τετρακοσιας και οκτωκισμυριας" (literally "of stadia myriads 400 and 80000") and the distance to the moon to be 780,000 stadia. The expression for the distance to the sun has been translated either as 4,080,000 stadia (1903 translation by E. H. Giffor ...

See also:

Eratosthenes, Eratosthenes - Short summary of Eratosthenes' life, Eratosthenes - Measurement of the Earth, Eratosthenes - Other work, Eratosthenes - The mysterious astronomical distances, Eratosthenes - Named after Eratosthenes

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Eratosthenes knew that on the summer solstice at local noon on the Tropic of Cancer, the Sun would appear at the zenith, directly overhead — though Syene was in fact slightly north of the tropic. He also knew, from measurement, that in his hometown of Alexandria, the angle of elevation of the Sun would be 7° south of the zenith at the same time. Assuming that Alexandria was due north of Syene- Alexandria is in fact on a more westerly longitude- he concluded that the distance from Alexandria to Syene must be 7/360 of the total circumference of the Earth. The distance between the cities was ...

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Eratosthenes, Eratosthenes - Short summary of Eratosthenes' life, Eratosthenes - Measurement of the Earth, Eratosthenes - Other work, Eratosthenes - The mysterious astronomical distances, Eratosthenes - Named after Eratosthenes

Read more here: » Eratosthenes: Encyclopedia II - Eratosthenes - Measurement of the Earth

Eratosthenes' other contributions include: The Sieve of Eratosthenes as a way of finding prime numbers. Possibly, the measurement of the Sun-Earth distance, now called the astronomical unit and of the distance to the Moon (see below). The measurement of the inclination of the ecliptic with an angle error 7'. He compiled a star catalogue containing 675 stars, which was not preserved. A map of the Nile's route as far as Khartoum. A map of the entire known world, from the British Isles t ...

See also:

Eratosthenes, Eratosthenes - Short summary of Eratosthenes' life, Eratosthenes - Measurement of the Earth, Eratosthenes - Other work, Eratosthenes - The mysterious astronomical distances, Eratosthenes - Named after Eratosthenes

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There is evidence that the round Earth was accepted by many Christians. For example, Emperor Theodosius II of the Byzantine Empire placed the globus cruciger (which depicts the Earth as round) on his coins. However, the antipodes (thought to be separated from the Mediterranean world by the uncrossable torrid clime) were difficult to reconcile with the Christian view of a unified human race descended from one couple and redeemed by a single Christ. Consequently, some of the Church Fathers questioned their existence and even the roundne ...

See also:

Flat Earth, Flat Earth - Antiquity, Flat Earth - The Early Church, Flat Earth - The Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Early Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Later Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Modern times, Flat Earth - Notes

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Flat Earth - Early Middle Ages. Europe's view of the world between 600 and 1000 is difficult to determine because of the general scarcity of records from that time and the primitive cartography: most medieval mappae mundi served as indices of geographical terms rather than navigational aids. Our best evidence comes from the writings of theologians: The 6th century Egyptian monk Cosmas Indicopleustes of Alexandria in his Topographia Christiana argued on theological grounds that the Earth was fl ...

See also:

Flat Earth, Flat Earth - Antiquity, Flat Earth - The Early Church, Flat Earth - The Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Early Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Later Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Modern times, Flat Earth - Notes

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During the 19th century, the Romantic conception of a European "Dark Age" gave much more prominence to the Flat Earth model than it ever possessed historically. The widely circulated woodcut of a man poking his head through the firmament of a flat earth to view the mechanics of the spheres, executed in the style of the 16th century cannot be traced to an earlier source than Camille Flammarion's L'Atmosphere: Météorologie Populaire (Paris, 1888, p. 163) [2]. The woodcut illustrates the statement in the text that a medieval missionary ...

See also:

Flat Earth, Flat Earth - Antiquity, Flat Earth - The Early Church, Flat Earth - The Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Early Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Later Middle Ages, Flat Earth - Modern times, Flat Earth - Notes

Read more here: » Flat Earth: Encyclopedia II - Flat Earth - Modern times