The Edges of the Earth in Ancient Thought

by Romm, James S.

• ISBN13: 9780691037882
• ISBN10: 0691037884
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-09-19
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

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.

Author Biography

James S. Romm is Assistant Professor of Classics at Bard College

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Works Frequently Cited	p. xiii
Introduction: Geography as a Literary Tradition	p. 3
The Boundaries of Earth	p. 9
Boundaries and the Boundless	p. 11
Ocean and Cosmic Disorder	p. 20
Roads around the World	p. 26
Herodotus and the Changing World Picture	p. 32
Aristotle and After	p. 41
Ethiopian and Hyperborean	p. 45
The Blameless Ethiopians	p. 49
The Fortunate Hyperboreans	p. 60
Arimaspians and Scythians	p. 67
The Kunokephaloi	p. 77
Wonders of the East	p. 82
Before Alexander	p. 83
Marvel-Collectors and Critics	p. 94
The Late Romance Tradition	p. 109
Ultima Thule and Beyond	p. 121
Antipodal Ambitions	p. 124
The North Sea Coast	p. 140
The Headwaters of the Nile	p. 149
The Atlantic Horizon	p. 156
Geography and Fiction	p. 172
Ocean and Poetry	p. 176
The Voyage of Odysseus	p. 183
Pytheas, Euhemerus, and Others	p. 196
The Fictions of Exploration	p. 202
Epilogue: After Columbus	p. 215
Index	p. 223
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