Traces of scientific geography in Pliny's Naturalis Historia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22394/2412-9410-2020-6-1-10-25Keywords:
geography, astronomy, Eratosthenes, Eudoxus, Pytheas, Posidonius, map of the world, LatitudesAbstract
The text of Natural History contains many references to the scientist geographers such as Eudoxus, Pytheas and Eratosthenes in Books II-VI: these books include both cosmology and geography, while in Book VII, on the contrary, there is almost no reference to the scientist geographers (only Eudoxus is quoted in VII, 24 about the Indians). This book is a sort of container of wonders and seems to have a psycho-literary function: on one hand, it reassures the reader of the “opposition” and “distance” of those places compared to the one in which one lives, and, on the other, it emphasizes the importance of research which, in Pliny's time, had preserved and updated Greek science. My analysis herein shows that quotations from ancient authors in Books II-VI point to the strong continuity between Eratosthenes and his conception of the world with that of the Romans under the Flavians. Hence, Pliny's description seems to come from a synthesis of both an astronomical-climatic conception (of Eratosthenes' origin and Posidonius' elaboration) and an astrological-climatic one (which derives from Nigidius Figulus). The influence of Posidonius on the Naturalis Historia does not affect the framework of Eratosthenes' map, but mainly involves the interpretation of the atmospheric phenomena that characterize the earth, thereby allowing us to hypothesize climatic bands. The latter are understood to be an evolution on the thinking of both Eudoxus and Eratosthenes. Then, among Latin sources, Varro (with Nigidius Figulus and Vitruvius) seems to have played an important role in the transmission of Greek science and in the creation of a Latin astronomical lexicon, as witnessed by the work of Pliny.Downloads
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