Description
Book SynopsisBrill's Companion to Ancient Geography edited by S. Bianchetti, M. R. Cataudella, H. J. Gehrke is the first collection of studies on historical geography of the ancient world that focuses on a selection of topics considered crucial for understanding the development of geographical thought. In this work, scholars, all of whom are specialists in a variety of fields, examine the interaction of humans with their environment and try to reconstruct the representations of the inhabited world in the works of ancient historians, scientists, and cartographers. Topics include: Eudoxus, Dicaearchus, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Agatharchides, Agrippa, Strabo, Pliny and Solinus, Ptolemy, and the Peutinger Map. Other issues are also discussed such as onomastics, the boundaries of states, Pythagorism, sacred itineraries, measurement systems, and the Holy Land.
Trade Review''This Companion to Greek and Roman Geography should be regarded both as a result and as a testimony of the interest ancient geography has been eliciting in the last 30 years. The three editors are, to a great extent, apart from the already-mentioned Hans-Joachim Gehrke, Serena Bianchetti and Michele Cataudella have authored countless contributions to the research area, ranging from topics as diverse as the voyage and work of Pytheas of Massalia, the sitting and nature of the Pillars of Heracles, the geographic reception of Greek geography among Christian authors, or the relationship between astronomy and cartography, inter alia. Moreover, under their guidance, the book brings together many of the most relevant authorities in recent scholarship on ancient geographic literature and thought. (...) The contributors consistently attain the highest level of complication. All this makes the book an interesting piece of research for being an excellent and useful instrument for scholars from other areas of knowledge, interested in the geographic ideas of the Greeks and Romans.'' Irene Pajón Leyra, Exemplaria Classica 2017.21 ''Insgesamt gelingt es den Herausgebern mit diesem sorgfältig erarbeiteten Band, speziellere Einzelthemen mit eher überblicksartig angelegten Kapiteln sowie Beiträgen zu einschlägigen antiken Autoren instruktiv miteinander zu verbinden. Der Leser erhält nicht nur einen anregenden Einblick in die vielschichtigen Modelle geographischen Denkens sowie in die hiermit verbundenen aktuellen Forschungstrends; er kann auch entscheidende Wende- und Knotenpunkte der Entwicklung (in ihrem historischen Kontext) nachvollziehen, aus denen sich neue Impulse und grundlegende Veränderungen (die Vf. sprechen m.E. etwas zu häufig von „revolution“) ergaben.'' Raimund Schulz, Historische Zeitschrift 2018.306
