ENGLISH

The Edges of the Earth in Ancient Thought: Geography, Exploration, and Fiction

By James S. Romm

Book information

Publisher
Princeton University Press
Year
1992
ISBN
0691069336, 9780691069333
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
18 MB (18870806 bytes)
Edition
Hardcover
Pages
252\245
Time added
2020-10-07 13:24:11

Description

For the Greeks and Romans the earth's farthest perimeter was a realm radically different from what they perceived as central and human. The alien qualities of these edges of the earth became the basis of a literary tradition that endured throughout antiquity and into the Renaissance, despite the growing challenges of emerging scientific perspectives. Here James Romm surveys this tradition, revealing that the Greeks, and to a somewhat lesser extent the Romans, saw geography not as a branch of physical science but as an important literary genre.

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