An historical survey of the astronomy of the ancients / by Sir George Cornewall Lewis.

George Cornewall Lewis

Date:: 1862

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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$the Continent. (319) One of the stories of Pytheas, respecting his fictitious island of Thule, was that it had six months of continual light, and six months of continual darkness.(32°) It may be remarked that the Romans under the Empire are said to have penetrated very far into Africa by land : thus, P. Petronius, prefect of Egypt in the time of Augustus, is stated to have marched 970 miles south of Syene;(321) Ptolemy like- wise describes two other Roman officers as having, by marches of three and four months respectively, reached a district south of the equator. (322) It is not impossible that the Egyptians may at an early time have ascended far into the interior of Africa; and in navigating the Red Sea, they would soon have passed the tropic. Ptolemy states distinctly that the country under the equator has never been visited by any inhabitant of the northern hemi- sphere ; so that he cannot have believed the accounts respecting the circumnavigation of Africa. (323) Cleomedes declares that we cannot visit the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere, as it is impossible to cross the torrid zone.(32i) Macrobius states that Meroe lies 3800 stadia (450 miles) south of Syene, which is under the tropic; that the cinnamon region reaches 800 stadia (100 miles) to the south of Meroe ; but that beyond this region the country is inaccessible in consequence of the heat.(323) The account of Geminus is different. He says that the southern temperate zone is unknown, but that the torrid zone had been recently explored by the Greek kings of Egypt, and it had been ascertained to consist of land, and not to be all (319) Above, p. 472, n. 138. (320) Pliu. ii. 77; above, p. 469. (321) Plin. vi. 35. An expedition to explore the source of the Nile sent by Neco, is mentioned in this passage, and also in Sen. Nat. Qusest. vi. 8. (322) Geogr. i. 8, 5 ; Vincent, vol. ii. p. 243. (323) rives Se elcnv al olki'](T€is ovk av e\oLpev neTreia-pevcos dne'iv. ArpnTToi yap eloi p^XP1 T0^ $evp° ro's a7™ T*js Ka@' t]Pas oLKovpfvqs, nai etKCKriav paXXov av ris rj IcrTopiav Tjyrjaairo ra Xeyoptva Trepl avrcov, Synt. ii. 6, p. 78, Halnia. Compare Delambre, Hist. Astr. Anc. torn. ii. p. 83. (324) Cleomed. i. 2, p. 20. (325) In Somn. Scip. ii. 8, 3.$

An historical survey of the astronomy of the ancients / by Sir George Cornewall Lewis.

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