An historical survey of the astronomy of the ancients / by Sir George Cornewall Lewis.
- George Cornewall Lewis
- Date:
- 1862
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An historical survey of the astronomy of the ancients / by Sir George Cornewall Lewis. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![to this part of the world chiefly occurs. Plutarch, iu his treatise ' De Facie in Orbe Lunae,'(230) describes the Homeric Island of Ogygia as situated five days' sail to the west of Britain, together with three other islands in the same direction, at equal distances from each other. In one of these islands, he proceeds to say, Saturn is related to be imprisoned by Jupiter; whence the neighbouring sea is called the Cronian, or Saturnian. The great external continent, lying beyond the circumfluous ocean, is at a distance of 5000 stadia (or 625 miles) from Ogygia, which is the farthest from it of the four islands. The intermediate sea is difficult to navigate, on account of its muddy properties; whence it has been believed to be frozen. On the shore of the external continent there are Greeks, dwelling round a gulf equal in size to the Palus Mseotis, the mouth of which lies directly opposite to the mouth of the Caspian Sea. The inhabitants of this continent consider our earth as an island, because it is sur- rounded by the ocean. They believe that this Hellenic popula- tion is composed of the original subjects of Saturn, subsequently reinforced by some of the companions of Hercules. Hence they pay the principal honours to Saturn, and after him to Hercules. When the planet Saturn is in the sign of Taurus—a coincidence which occurs every thirtieth year—they send out a body of men, selected by lot, to seek their fortunes across the sea. A band of this description, having escaped from the dangers of the sea, landed on one of the above-mentioned islands, which are inha- bited by Greeks, the descendants of former colonists from the same continent: after a residence of ninety days, during which they were entertained with honour and hospitality, and regarded and called sacred, they sailed onwards in their course. It is permitted to dwellers in these islands to return to their original country after a series of years; but the majority prefer to remain, either from habit or because the climate is mild and the soil produces everything in abundance without toil. They (230) c. 26. la this passage, Boeckb alters hv iv fj-ia into iv 8e -nj 'Qyvyia, or &v iv rjj Trparr], an alteration which does not seem to be neces- sary.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21015855_0505.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
