Origins
Origins

Author: Lewis Dartnell

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2019-05-14

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 1541617894

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A New York Times-bestselling author explains how the physical world shaped the history of our species When we talk about human history, we often focus on great leaders, population forces, and decisive wars. But how has the earth itself determined our destiny? Our planet wobbles, driving changes in climate that forced the transition from nomadism to farming. Mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece. Atmospheric circulation patterns later on shaped the progression of global exploration, colonization, and trade. Even today, voting behavior in the south-east United States ultimately follows the underlying pattern of 75 million-year-old sediments from an ancient sea. Everywhere is the deep imprint of the planetary on the human. From the cultivation of the first crops to the founding of modern states, Origins reveals the breathtaking impact of the earth beneath our feet on the shape of our human civilizations.

Ancient Geography
Ancient Geography

Author: Duane W. Roller

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2015-08-27

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0857739239

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The last dedicated book on ancient geography was published more than sixty years ago. Since then new texts have appeared (such as the Artemidoros palimpsest), and new editions of existing texts (by geographical authorities who include Agatharchides, Eratosthenes, Pseudo-Skylax and Strabo) have been produced. There has been much archaeological research, especially at the perimeters of the Greek world, and a more accurate understanding of ancient geography and geographers has emerged. The topic is therefore overdue a fresh and sustained treatment. In offering precisely that, Duane Roller explores important topics like knowledge of the world in the Bronze Age and Archaic periods; Greek expansion into the Black Sea and the West; the Pythagorean concept of the earth as a globe; the invention of geography as a discipline by Eratosthenes; Polybios the explorer; Strabo's famous Geographica; the travels of Alexander the Great; Roman geography; Ptolemy and late antiquity; and the cultural reawakening of antique geographical knowledge in the Renaissance, including Columbus' use of ancient sources.

Geography and the Classical World
Geography and the Classical World

Author: William A. Koelsch

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-12-24

Total Pages: 477

ISBN-13: 1350197378

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In the late eighteenth century, a new subject emerged that was one of the earliest forms of historical geography. It was called ancient geography or classical geography. Geographers, historians and classicists all contributed to its rise, as it flourished in both Britain and America. Yet in the 1920s, as geography took a different turn, the subject began to decline. As a result the story has been omitted from more recent histories of geography and indeed from the classical tradition. William Koelsch's pioneering volume in the Tauris Historical Geography Series is the first full-length work to explore the emergence of the subject, its successes and failures, and to explore its role in the geographical tradition. The author gives equal prominence to the story as it unfolded in both Britain and America. The result is a work of outstanding scholarship that reveals a rich and important part of the geographical and classical tradition that has until now been overlooked -- Editor.

Geography of Claudius Ptolemy
Geography of Claudius Ptolemy

Author: Claudius Ptolemy

Publisher: Cosimo Classics

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781605204383

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Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, originally titled Geographia and written in the second century, is a depiction of the geography of the Roman Empire at the time. Though inaccurate due to Ptolemy's varying methods of measurement and use of outdated data, Geography of Claudius Ptolemy is nonetheless an excellent example of ancient geographical study and scientific method. This edition contains more than 40 maps and illustrations, reproduced based on Ptolemy's original manuscript. It remains a fascinating read for students of scientific history and Greek influence. CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY (A.D. 90- A.D. 168) was a poet, mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and geographer who wrote in Greek, though he was a Roman citizen. He is most well-known for three scientific treatises he wrote on astronomy, astrology, and geography, respectively titled Almagest, Apotelesmatika, and Geographia. His work influenced early Islamic and European studies, which in turn influenced much of the modern world. Ptolemy died in Alexandria as a member of Greek society.

As Above, So Below
As Above, So Below

Author: Gina Konstantopoulos

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2021-09-21

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 1646021533

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This volume addresses the nexus of religion and geography in the ancient Near East through case studies of various time periods and regions. Using Sumerian, Akkadian, and Aramaic text corpora, iconography, and archaeological evidence, the contributors illuminate the diverse phenomena that occur when religion is viewed through the lenses of space and place. Gina Konstantopoulos draws upon Sumerian literature to understand mythicized and semimythicized locations. Seth Richardson and Elizabeth Knott focus on the Old Babylonian period, with Richardson addressing the interplay between law, location, and the gods, while Knott turns from text to image, relocating the reader to Syria and realizing the potential of royal iconography when situated in the “right” space. Shana Zaia moves forward to the first millennium, following the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as it shifted from city to city, with divine implications. Finally, Arnulf Hausleiter and Sebastiano Lora focus on northwest Arabia, unearthing a local pantheon and situating it among the various influences in the region from the second millennium onward. Covering a broad geographical and temporal scope while maintaining a cohesive focus on the theme, this book will appeal especially to Assyriologists, scholars of the ancient Near East, and specialists in historical geography.