Journal articles on the topic 'Geography, Ancient – History'
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Rakhimov, Komil Akramovich Komil Akramovich. "ANCIENT BACTERIAN BRONZE AGE FIRE WORSHIP." CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY 02, no. 05 (May 31, 2021): 71–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.37547/history-crjh-02-05-17.
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This article gives a brief overview of the results of research on the monuments of the Sopolli culture in northern Bactria, as well as the origin, shape, size, functions, stages of development, geography of distribution, geography of other cultures. comparisons with the findings of the eneolithic and Bronze Ages and comments on their periodic dates. It has also been scientifically substantiated that double-fire fire-worshiping furnaces in the eneolithic period continued as a tradition in later periods, i.e. in the Bronze Age, and that these furnaces were observed not in centralized temples but in family houses.
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Kattaeva, Gulmira. "LAPIS LAZULI SOURCES AND ITS DISTRIBUTION GEOGRAPHY." JOURNAL OF LOOK TO THE PAST 7, no. 3 (July 30, 2020): 46–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.26739/2181-9599-2020-7-6.
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The study of the ancient sources of the lapis lazuli stone is one of the most important scientific directions in the history of the relations of the ancient oases of Central Asia with the Ancient Eastern civilizations.
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Harutyunyan, Hakob Zh. "Lycaonia: from ancient geography to Khorenatsi and Shirakatsi." Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History 68, no. 3 (2023): 686–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.21638/spbu02.2023.308.
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For the first time in historiography, we have made an attempt to consider the historical geography of the region of Lycaonia, which was located on the territory of the modern peninsula of Asia Minor. This area can be called the «Forgotten Territory», since so far not a single scientist has turned to the study of this important part of Asia Minor (except for articles in encyclopedias). Despite the fact that Lycaonia never had its own statehood, from ancient times it played an important role in the relations of the great powers of the ancient world. Comparing the data of «Ancient Armenian Geography («Ashkharatsuyts»/«Աշխարհացույց»), first of all, with the data of Strabo and Ptolemy, we found out how the boundaries of this region have changed in relation to neighboring states. Consideration of the issue of the territory of Lycaonia is possible on the basis of identifying and studying the orography and hydrography of this region. At the same time, «Ashkharatsuyts» Lycaonia should be compared with the description of this country by Strabo and Ptolemy, and also, in part, with the descriptions of Pliny and other ancient authors (in particular, Herodotus and Xenophon). We analytically examined the issues of urbanization, about which the historian-geographer Claudius Ptolemy presented detailed information. The study of this text requires a hermeneutic approach. It is necessary to analyze literally every word of this message in order to obtain the desired result, which we tried to do in our study within the framework of this article.
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Chobit, D. "Ptolemies "Geography" as a key to the ancient history of Ukraine." Historical and Geographical Studies in Ukraine, no. 14 (December 18, 2019): 144–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.15407/hgru2019.14.144.
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PALLADINO, CHIARA. "NEW APPROACHES TO ANCIENT SPATIAL MODELS: DIGITAL HUMANITIES AND CLASSICAL GEOGRAPHY." Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 59, no. 2 (December 1, 2016): 56–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-5370.2016.12038.x.
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Abstract This paper proposes a methodology to address the problem of the representation of Greek and Roman geography in the digital environment. As classical geography was not only a graphic representation of the world, but a multi-layered cultural system based on specific notions and concepts, it is now necessary to go beyond the taxonomy of place-names and their visualization on modern maps. The interpretation of ancient geography as a ‘mental model’ implies the importance of different and complementary aspects which should be addressed systematically: the expression of distances, the language of spatial orientation, the definition of environmental landmarks. For each of these aspects an integrated digital methodology is proposed, either implementing existing infrastructures or focusing on new strategies. The conclusion establishes a workflow to be tested on the corpus of the Geographi Graeci Minores, and extended to a variety of other texts.
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Ambridge, Lindsay J. "Imperialism and Racial Geography in James Henry Breasted’s Ancient Times, a History of the Early World." Journal of Egyptian History 5, no. 1-2 (2012): 12–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187416612x632508.
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Abstract James Henry Breasted (1865–1935), founder of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, was a prolific writer of popularizing books on the ancient Near East. This article presents a critical analysis and historical contextualization of one of his most widely read books: Ancient Times, a History of the Early World. Published as a high school textbook in 1916 and revised in 1935, it serves as a reference point from which to investigate the effects of political and cultural variables on ancient historiography. Changes between the first and second editions of the book indicate that Breasted increasingly relied on scientific vocabulary to map the geo-racial boundaries of early civilization. Combining this with a model of enlightened exploitation, Breasted constructed a vision of the ancient past that was ultimately a commentary on the socio-political conditions of his own time.
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Mattingly, David. "Mapping Ancient Libya." Libyan Studies 25 (January 1994): 1–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s026371890000618x.
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Between 1946 and 1951 Richard Goodchild carried out the fieldwork that was to result in a seminal series of articles and publications on the ancient settlements of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica (Goodchild 1948; 1949a/b; 1950a/b/c/d; 1951a/b/c; 1952a/b/c; 1953; 1954c; 1971; 1976; Goodchild and Ward-Perkins 1953; Ward-Perkins and Goodchild 1949; 1953). The cartographic results appeared in 1954 as two splendid sheets in the ill-fated Tabula Imperii Romani (TIR) series at a scale of 1:1,000,000 (Goodchild 1954a/b). These twenty-two publications remain of fundamental importance to our understanding of the ancient topography of Libya.Goodchild's map can with hindsight be seen as one of the few successes of the ill-fated TIR project. The TIR initiative aimed to produce 58 maps covering the Roman world, but huge problems have beset it all along and only 11 maps have ever appeared in definitive form. Although work continues in some areas, it must be considered improbable that this series will ever be completed (see Talbert 1992 for a thorough review of the history of the TIR).The fact that it is now nearly 40 years since the compilation of Goodchild's two TER sheets for Libya is probably reason enough for resuming his interest in mapping ancient Libya. Much has happened in the interim to refine our knowledge of both urban and rural settlement, as a glance at the relevant volumes of Libya Antiqua, Libyan Studies and Quaderni di Archeologia delta Libia will reveal. For the study of the ancient geography and toponomy of Cyrenaica, the studies by Stucchi (1975) and Laronde (1987) are of particular importance. In addition to map corrections necessitated by the new information and perspectives, one may cite the inconvenience caused by the incompleteness of the TIR coverage to the south, east and west of the Leptis Magna and Cyrene sheets. For instance, how can we hope to understand the settlement geography of Roman Tripolitania without reference to Tunisian western Tripolitania or to the desert tribes (Phazanii, Garamantes etc)?
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Jansen, Maarten. "The Search for History in Mixtec Codices." Ancient Mesoamerica 1, no. 1 (1990): 99–112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536100000122.
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AbstractThis article begins with a historical review of the study of ancient Mixtec civilization and how codices became alienated from the Oaxaca region and culture. Current interpretations of codices' geographic reality, their religious dimension, and the problems of chronology are discussed. Accurate interpretation of the Mixtec codices is shown to be very much dependent on the collaboration of modern Mixtecs, as the inheritors of the ancient culture.
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Harder, Peter. "Boylan. Sunday School - The Formation of an American Institution, 1790-1880." Teaching History: A Journal of Methods 15, no. 2 (September 1, 1991): 84. http://dx.doi.org/10.33043/th.15.2.84.
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Teaching ancient history to high school freshmen over twenty years ago was one of my first teaching assignments and one I began with some uncertainty. Making the subject interesting and "relevant" --a popular pedagogical term of the 1960s--challenged my beginning teaching skills, but I was pleasantly surprised to find some knowledgeable students who were also advocates for the study of ancient history. Where had they learned the names of ancient cities? Where had they become familiar with the rivers and geography of Biblical times? Sunday School.
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Desai, Rashmi. "The religious geography of an ancient town‐Bharuch." South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 16, sup001 (January 1993): 61–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00856409308723192.
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Bowersock, G. W. "Palestine: Ancient History and Modern Politics." Journal of Palestine Studies 14, no. 4 (1985): 49–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2537121.
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Bowersock, G. W. "Palestine: Ancient History and Modern Politics." Journal of Palestine Studies 14, no. 4 (July 1985): 49–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jps.1985.14.4.00p02032.
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Wang, Fang, Cai Hong Yang, and Hua Chen. "Discussion on the Site Selection of Handan History Settlements." Advanced Materials Research 790 (September 2013): 138–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.790.138.
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Handan city is a historical and cultural city of nation level in China, it had a long history and particular geography, thus there were lot of ancient settlements established in history. This essay discusses settlements and dwellings in Handan and shows arguments concerned with towns or courtyard development.
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Al Kaabi, Amal Saleh Aboud. "Medical geography: Topical approaches and methodological intersections." INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES 6, no. 2 (May 1, 2023): 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.32441/ijms.6.2.1.
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Medical geography is an ancient branch of human geography that has its roots throughout history as ideas and practices. It later developed a scientific methodology that took an applied path by adopting medical data and quantitative analysis to devote its attention towards revealing human health suffering at the spatial level. It has an objective involvement with medicine and a systematic intersection in the contexts of research and study.
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Bloch, René. "POSIDONIAN THOUGHTS—ANCIENT AND MODERN." Journal for the Study of Judaism 35, no. 3 (2004): 284–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1570063041705227.
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AbstractStrabo's history of Judaism (Geography 16.2.35ff.), which is most probably copied from Posidonius, focuses less on the past which is idealized than on the present which is criticized—as is common in descriptions of a "golden age" which later deteriorates. The Posidonian thought that the Jewish religion declined made its way into Tacitus' mostly hostile ethnography of Judaism. Modern scholars, especially in the 19th century, when commenting on Posidonius and Tacitus sympathized from a quite different perspective with that very idea of a Jewish decline.
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Konstantopoulos, Gina. "The Disciplines of Geography: Constructing Space in the Ancient World." Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 4, no. 1-2 (June 26, 2018): 1–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/janeh-2017-0012.
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AbstractThis article serves as introduction to a special double issue of the journal, comprised of seven articles that center on the theme of space and place in the ancient world. The essays examine the ways in which borders, frontiers, and the lands beyond them were created, defined, and maintained in the ancient world. They consider such themes within the context of the Old Assyrian period, the Hittite empire, and the Neo-Assyrian empire, as well as within the broader scope of Biblical texts and the Graeco-Roman world. As we only see evidence of a documented, physical, and thus fixed map in the later stages of Mesopotamian history, the ancient world primarily conceived of space through mental maps rather than physical ones. Thus, while the societies of the ancient Near East integrated knowledge gained by actual contact with distant lands into their world view, it was also informed by the literary conceptions of those same spaces. These mental maps were unsurprisingly prone to shifting over time, changing as the social conceptions of the world itself, its border and frontiers, the lands that lay beyond them and how those places might be defined, also changed. These papers question the intersection of concrete and fantastical, or real and imagined, that existed in both the ancient and pre-modern world, where distant locations become elaborately embroidered by fantastical constructions, despite the concrete connections of travel, trade, and even military enterprise.
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Pickrell, Joseph K., and David Reich. "Toward a new history and geography of human genes informed by ancient DNA." Trends in Genetics 30, no. 9 (September 2014): 377–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2014.07.007.
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Vlassopoulos, Kostas. "Greek History." Greece and Rome 66, no. 2 (September 19, 2019): 295–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s001738351900010x.
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Ancient Greek history can have no serious future in which the study of slavery does not play a prominent role. But in order to fulfil this role, the study of slavery is in urgent need of new approaches and perspectives. David Lewis’ new book is a splendid contribution in this direction. Lewis stresses the fact that slavery is primarily a relationship of property, and develops a cross-cultural framework for approaching slavery in this manner. Using this framework, he shows that Greek slavery cannot be equated with slavery in classical Athens, but consisted of various epichoric systems of slavery. Spartan helots and Cretanwoikeiswere not serfs or dependent peasants, but slave property with peculiar characteristics, as a result of the peculiar development of these communities. These findings have major implications for the study of Greek slavery. At the same time, he presents a comparative examination of Greek slave systems with slave systems in the ancient Near East (Israel, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and Carthage). While previous scholarship assumed that slavery in the Near East was marginal, Lewis shows that slaves constituted a major part of elite portfolios in many of these societies. This has revolutionary implications for the comparative study of Mediterranean and Near Eastern history in antiquity. Finally, he presents a model for explaining the role and significance of slavery in different ancient societies, which includes the factors that determine the choice of labour force, as well as the impact of political and economic geography. It is remarkable that an approach to slavery based on a cross-cultural and ahistorical definition of property does not lead to a homogenizing and static account, but on the contrary opens the way for a perspective that highlights geographical diversity and chronological change.
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Harutyunyan, Hakob. "Phrygia According to the Works of Khorenatsi and Shirakatsi." Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History 67, no. 3 (2022): 789–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.21638/spbu02.2022.307.
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“Ancient Armenian Geography” (or “Ashkharatsuits”, literally — “World Map”) calls Phrygia the fifth among all the countries of Universal Asia, which is located between Lycia and Paphlagonia. Partly based on “The Geography” by Ptolemy, “Ancient Armenian Geography” complements the Greek author with its information. Outlining the borders of Phrygia, “Ashkharatsuits” shows the territorial limits that this state reached in the first half of the I millennium BC (especially in the 8th–6th centuries). These centuries can be characterized as the “golden era” of Phrygia since almost all of western Asia Minor was part of this kingdom, and Phrygia reached its apogee during this period. The authors of the Armenian source do not mention any historical person and speak exclusively about geography (administrative territorial divisions, urban map orography, hydrography, plains, etc.). All the data of the Armenian text have been scrupulously examined and compared/collated with the information of Ptolemy, as well as with the information ranging from the Bible and Strabo’s “Geography” to the works of the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus. Only a hermeneutic approach to the issue will make it possible to remove all the “brackets” since if the main text of “Ashkharatsuits” was written in the 5th century by Khorenatsi, then from a geographical perspective the source was supplemented in the 7th century by Shirakatsi. Information about the administrative division of Onoratia is also important, as well as its historical and geographical description — all this sheds light on the problem of studying both Onoratia and Phrygia. “Ashkharatsuits” traces the evolution undergone by Phrygia during its history.
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Tan, Zoë M. "Subversive Geography in Tacitus' Germania." Journal of Roman Studies 104 (April 8, 2014): 181–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0075435814000021.
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AbstractGeography is a fundamental element of ancient ethnography, yet the account of the environment in Tacitus' Germania is notably sparse. Standard elements of geographic description are absent, or are presented in restricted (and subversive) ways. This paper examines the presentation and structuring of Germanic spaces against a backdrop of contrasting contemporary geographic writings, and considers the implications of Tacitus' rejection of geographic norms.
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Schüller, Volkmar, and Sonja Brentjes. "Pietro Della Valle's Latin Geography of Safavid Iran (1624-1628): Introduction." Journal of Early Modern History 10, no. 3 (2006): 169–219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157006506778234162.
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AbstractThis article argues that Pietro della Valle's Latin geography of the Safavid Empire is important for taking a middle ground between two common tendencies of early modern authors in Catholic and Protestant Europe when writing about Western Asia and Northern Africa. While cartographers and mapmakers—in Venice, Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Paris—privileged new information (from travelers) in their choice of place names, those who wrote on the history or geography of these regions often suppressed local knowledge, giving preference to terms from ancient Greek and Latin history and geography, enriched by reference to the Bible. Della Valle, while traveling in Ottoman and Safavid territories, made intensive efforts to learn major local languages and acquire information about contemporary political, cultural, and physical geography, as documented in his diary and the original copies of his letters written during the long years of travel. The approach he takes in his geography of the Safavid Empire is thus close to choices made by the cartographers and mapmakers.
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Leeming, F. A., and Wu Liangyong. "A Brief History of Ancient Chinese City Planning." Geographical Journal 153, no. 3 (November 1987): 398. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/633681.
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Knapp, Ronald G., and Wu Liangyong. "A Brief History of Ancient Chinese City Planning." Geographical Review 77, no. 4 (October 1987): 493. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/214295.
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Chalmers, Matthew. "Viewing Samaritans Jewishly: Josephus, the Samaritans, and the Identification of Israel." Journal for the Study of Judaism 51, no. 3 (July 2, 2020): 339–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700631-bja10009.
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Abstract Josephus offers one of our most extensive sources for the study of ancient Judaism, and his treatment of the Samaritans is no exception. In this article, I synchronize attention to Josephus’ representations of Samaritans with the turn in Biblical Studies and Jewish Studies towards the contestation of ancient “Israel” throughout antiquity. First, I argue that we see more clearly how Josephus actively constructs Samaritan identity by comparison to shared contestation of Israelite genealogy and geography in the Martyrdom of Isaiah, 4 Baruch, Pseudo-Philo, and Megillat Taʿanit. Second, I suggest that such an approach develops an alternative way to write ancient Jewish history with Josephus, incorporating his work into discussions of ancient Jewish self-representation beyond the choice between historical reality check or self-sustaining rhetoric.
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Svistunov, Viacheslav M. "Ancient Mines of the South Urals." Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History 66, no. 4 (2021): 1317–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu02.2021.416.
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The article presents the intermediate results of a historical research, whose purpose is to determine the distribution of ancient mining operations (Chud mines) in the South Urals. Travel journals of the participants of academic expeditions of 1768–1774 — P. S. Pallas, I. I. Lepekhin, N. P. Rychkov and I. P. Falk — were taken as published written sources. The unpublished written sources mainly include archival documents from the period of owning mineral rights in Russia in 1739–1782 stored in the archives of Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk. It was established that the copper mines of the 18th century were seasonally subdivided into “summer pits” and “winter mines”. The extraction of copper ore in winter was common, which allows extrapolating it to earlier periods of mining in the South Urals. A distinctive feature of ancient underground mining operations is the vaulted character of adits, while similar mines of the 18th century are characterized by rock tunneling “under the support structures”. The “summer pits” of both periods without archeological exploration and archival documents do not have singular features. It was also established that the geography of the location of ancient mountain mines is not limited to the area of occurrence of cuprous sandstones of the Cisural area. Following the study by Grigory Spassky, the article states that ancient mining developments in the form of exploration pits and mines are in abundance in the Southern Trans-Urals. They stretch along the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains in a narrow strip from the Krasnokhty and Shartymka rivers to the left bank of the Ural River and go to the Mugodzhar region.
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AKCAN, Ayten. "On Ancient Turkish Culture and Civilization: Surviving in the Steppe." JOURNAL OF HISTORY AND FUTURE 8, no. 3 (September 30, 2022): 896–909. http://dx.doi.org/10.21551/jhf.1173800.
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Geography is a great gift for humanity and for this reason, mankind has had the opportunity to develop in various fields. Considering that the Turks have lived in very different geographies since the first day they emerged, this diversity of places belongs to the ancient Turks; It has affected their lifestyles, lifestyles, forming a certain worldview, social structures, in short, their culture and civilization. For this reason, in the historical and cultural studies about the ancient Turks; It would be appropriate to put forward the "steppe" issue, to know and comprehend how the steppe culture was formed by mixing with history and how this geography gave objectivity to the Turkish people living in the steppe, and then to understand Turkish culture and civilization. Of course, while working in the field of old Turkish history and culture, it is necessary to move away from the understanding that it is sufficient to only consider the steppe when talking about the settlements. I believe that it would be more appropriate to conduct a study with this title and content, since the great states that were established were mainly established in the steppe. For this reason, the general character and also the aim of the study is to reveal how the ancient Turks, who started their life adventures in this geography called the steppe, came into existence in the steppe, and how long they lived here by displaying superior success against the natural environment in this vast, flat land. At the same time, this study emphasizes the importance of determining that an integral part of the formation of these structures is the geography they live in, in order to be able to determine the political, economic and social structure of the Turkish communities living in the steppe in the pre-Islamic period. In this article, by making some evaluations on the old Turkish culture and civilization, it will be tried to make important explanations by touching on the general characteristics of the ancient Turks in the pre-Islamic steppe.
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Helmke, Christophe, Claire E. Ebert, Jaime J. Awe, and Julie A. Hoggarth. "The lay of the land: a political geography of an ancient Maya kingdom in West-Central Belize." Contributions in New World Archaeology 12 (December 31, 2019): 9–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.33547/cnwa.12.01.
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The Belize Valley figures prominently in the history of Maya archaeology as the birthplace of settlement pattern surveys, where Gordon R. Willey and his colleagues conducted their pioneering research project, from 1954 to 1956. Six decades on, settlement surveys are an integral part of archaeological research strategies not only across the Maya area, but globally. With the advent of LiDAR technology, settlement surveys enter a new developmental phase, and we take this opportunity to review the history and progress of these surveys in the Belize Valley. We focus on one particular archaeological site, Baking Pot, so as to better illustrate the methods and technological advances that have been brought to bear in the mapping of one ancient Maya city-state. Now that the survey of this ancient settlement is nearing completion, we veer from traditional settlement surveys that in principle focus on unbounded central places and centroids, in an attempt to tackle an important question, which to date has remained conspicuously understudied, that of borders and boundaries. Using a series of geospatial analyses, we investigate the potential of these approaches for reconstructing ancient polity boundaries and as lessons learned we explore which methods are of greater utility and can be applied to other surveys in the Maya lowlands.
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Zhang, Xun. "Psychological Analysis of Hui Merchants’ Humanistic Complex Reflected by Huizhou Houses." Advanced Materials Research 243-249 (May 2011): 6499–502. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.243-249.6499.
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As a traditional symbol of cultural geography full of humanistic charm, Huizhou architecture has a long history with strong humanistic complex. Through psychological analysis of Hui merchants, this paper expounds the formation of Huizhou architecture and Hui merchants’ psychology embodied by the existing ancient village houses.
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Seland, Eivind Heldaas. "Networks and social cohesion in ancient Indian Ocean trade: geography, ethnicity, religion." Journal of Global History 8, no. 3 (October 2, 2013): 373–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1740022813000338.
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AbstractThe Indian Ocean is famous for its well-documented Jewish and Islamic trading networks of the medieval and early modern periods. Social networks that eased the challenges of cross-cultural trade have a much longer history in the region, however. The great distances covered by merchants and the seasonality of the monsoons left few alternatives to staying away for prolonged periods of time, and shipwreck, piracy, and the slave trade caused people to end up on coasts far away from home. Networks of merchants developed in the Indian Ocean region that depended on a degree of social cohesion. This article draws up a map of selected merchant communities in the western Indian Ocean, and argues that geographical origin, ethnicity, and religion may have been different ways of establishing the necessary infrastructure of trust.
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Tymoshenko, M. "CELTIC EUROPE IN THE COMMENTARY OF THE 16th CENTURY FLEMISH MAPMAKER ABRAHAM ORTELIUS." Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. History, no. 149 (2021): 65–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2021.149.13.
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A survey deals with the Latin commentary to the 1595-year Ancient Celtica map, created by the Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius in his historical atlas «Parergon». The mapmaker’s texts in verso to the ancient maps are still little studied by researchers. In the course of the study, the main parts of the source were analyzed, testifying Ortelius’ high erudition in ancient history and geography. Special attention also paid to how the humanist of the late XVI century showed his vision of the idea of European Pan-Celticism. Although he did not detail the vision of Celtic Europe, Ortelius confidently presented the arguments of his contemporaries, using a wide range of ancient, medieval, and humanistic sources: a total number of almost 70 authors. The Dutch mapmaker widely drew the arguments of Hadrianus Junius and Johannes Goropius Becanus: they biblically and linguistically spread the idea of Europa Celtica in the XVI century Netherlands. Ortelius’ great merit was a revealing of the Celtic myth through the prism of the Celtic and Germanic tribes’ identity with their languages and with their settlement throughout Europe by using methods of historical geography, linguistics, European toponymy and cartography.
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Harutyunyan, A. Zh. "Arabia According to the Ancient Armenian Monument “Ashkharatsuyts” Dated the 5th–7th Centuries." Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki 163, no. 3 (2021): 137–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.26907/2541-7738.2021.3.137-150.
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The “Ancient Armenian Geography” (“Ashkharatsuyts”) places a special emphasis on the historical and geographical description of the Arabian Peninsula as a whole. Here, Arabia is considered as two countries of Universal Asia: the 25th and 28th countries are referred to as Arabia Petraea and Felix, respectively. The desert part of Arabia (Arabia Deserta) is also mentioned, but the authors (Movses Khorenatsi, Ananias of Shirak) only outline the boundaries of the peninsula. In addition to the geographical and historical information, the “Ashkharatsuyts” gives details on the socio-economic and cultural development of the population residing in the region. There is also a racial map, as well as the information about fossil resources, flora, fauna, etc. Similarly to the earlier works by other scholars (Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Pomponius Mela, Ptolemy, et al.), the “Ashkharatsuyts” is focused on all sections and subcategories of geography (from anthropogeography, cartography, local history, physico-economic geography to military geography, plant geography, physical geography (orography and hydrography), etc.). In this paper, each fragment of the text devoted to Arabia is explained on the basis of hermeneutic principles. Toponyms are interpreted using historical and linguistic analysis. Controversial issues are considered in the perspective of comparison with data from other sources. The results obtained contribute considerably to the study of the Arabian Peninsula by appealing to historical sources along with archaeological data.
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DŽINO, DANIJEL. "APPIAN’S ILLYRIKE: THE FINAL STAGE OF THE ROMAN CONSTRUCTION OF ILLYRICUM." ИСТРАЖИВАЊА, no. 27 (December 19, 2016): 69–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.19090/i.2016.27.69-83.
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Appian’s Illyrian book (Illyrike) was originally intended to be just an appendix to his Macedonian book and today remains the only extant ancient work dealing with the early history of Illyricum which is preserved in its entirety. In this short work Appian puts together different local and regional histories in order to create a unified historical narrative and determines the historical and mythological coordinates of Illyricum inside the ancient world. This paper will discuss Illyrike in the context of the Roman construction of Illyricum as a provincial space, similar to some other regions in continental Europe such as, for example, Gaul or Britain. They were all firstly created through the needs of Roman political geography and later written into literary knowledge through the works of ancient history and ethnography. This paper will argue that Appian’s Illyrike represented the final stage of the Roman construction of Illyricum from an imaginary to a provincial space, which was the point of its full coming of age as an integral part of the ancient world and the Roman Empire.
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Watanabe, Yoshio. "Two kinds of feng-shui history in Japan: science and divination." Estudos Japoneses, no. 35 (March 7, 2015): 124–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/issn.2447-7125.v0i35p124-138.
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In this paper, I don’tuse the word of “geomancy” but use “feng-shui”, as meaning a set of method and concept for an assessment for environmental impact against human life. Environmental impact assessment, connected with the feng-shui theory of later eras, first began with xiang-zhai (house and community observation), which appeared in the Zhou Period (770~256 BC.), Spring and Autumn/Warring States Periods(770~221 BC.) in China. Now I recognize the meanings of feng-shuiare indicated two kinds. One meaning is a kind of scientific thought through the ancient environmental impact assessment, and another meaning is a method of divination through judgments fortune-telling items. So I will mention about the Japanese history of feng-shuidivided into two kinds of histories. A number of scholars have pointed out the transmission of feng-shui knowledge to Japan, as recorded in the section of the Nihon Shoki (the Book of the ancient Japanese record) which reads: “In 601 AD, a buddhist monk named Kanroku arrived from Paekche (one of the country, ancient Korea) to Japan. As tribute, they brought books of astronomy and geography (same meaning of feng-shui)...”. After this record, terms synonymous with feng-shui can be sporadically seen in the records of ancient Japan. Continuing, in the Book of Ryo-no-gige (chapter of staff inst- ructions) of the 9th century in Japan, it states that 6 yin-yang practitioners of the yin-yang Bureau (Ministry of astronomical and geographical observations) “shall be in charge of divination sticks and souchi (feng-shui)”. Thus, one of the duties of the yin-yang practitioners was souchi. This was a form of divination and observation topography which was a predecessor of the feng-shui theory. Much later in time, we arrive at the Edo Period (1603~1868 AD.). In Wakan-sansai-zue, or Sino-Japanese encyclopaedia from this Period written by Terashima Ryoan, the compass (which developed later) was called a tokei-shin, and it is explained as “an instrument for determining directions and telling time”. According to Terashima Ryoan, it is a compass, like that used in Japan today for kasou (i.e. divining the fortune of a house from its directions and situation). The tokei-shin described by Terashima Ryoan was a “compass for sea navigation” developed further for sea navigation after the invention of the luo-pan (compass) in the Sung Period in China. This “compass for sea navigation” was a simplified version of the luo-pan for land divination (feng-shui), and until very recently, was used as a compass for small boats in Japan. After the luo-pan using a magnetic needle was invented, there is a history in China of using the luo-pan as a surveying instrument, i.e. as a successor of the previous tugui method based on sun shadow measurement. This was not a luo-pan notched with many graduations; rather, it was a luo-pan which attempted to measure accurate directions and angles by using only one type of graduation. This type of luo-pan was also used in Japan in the Edo Period called “banshin- raban”. In the Edo Period, there was active development of mines, and it was necessary to measure accurate bearings and angles for tasks like excavating mine tunnels. In the some of ancient Japanese written historical records, the synonymous words of “Chiri” (in Japanese), or “Dili” (in Chinese) could be recognized as the “geography” which has been used in ancient China. But we know two letters of “feng (wind) and shui (water)” that are widely used today all over the world. When it comes to the Edo period, the name “fuu-sui”, or “geography=Chiri” can be discovered at the time of feng-shui manual named “Kasou-sho”. A book of “Kasou-zukai or feng-shui illustration published in 1798 is commentary various divination ways in the name of “fuu-sui”. Since then, also in many other Edo periods, at the Kasou-sho manual, words and examples of “fuu-sui” are abundantly found, the knowledge of “fuu-sui” as a method of divination had been introduced to Japan. Currently, examples of I know the oldest word of “fuu-sui or feng-shui” in Japan is in a memorial document of “Engaku temple” in the Muromachi era. But I don’t know now that from Muromachi to Edo era, the term of “fuu-sui” has first used in Japan or not. Appeared in a “topography of Youshuu” in the Edo era and “Engaku temple document” in the Muromachi era, “fuu-sui or feng-shui” do not mean the knowledge of “geography” associated with land observations, but means a method how to judge right and wrong about their environmental conditions. We therefore, can recognize about the meaning of “Chiri” that there were two kinds or more of knowledge in Edo era. A Japanese geographer in Edo era named Nyoken Nishikawa wrote his book (1712). His book tells us an example of meaning of “Chiri”. Nyoken Nishikawa said that ranging from one of the house to the entire earth, “Chiri or geography” have various levels of meaning. “Fuu-sui” means “geographical conditions” themselves. There are good or bad conditions in “Chiri” itself, but not exist in human environmental judgments. “Geography” itself means environmental conditions, so there was no need to judge human environment good or bad. However, in the medieval period, Yin-yang diviner or fuu-sui master in Japan had broken out over wide area and using the name of “Chiri or geography”, explaining about the vicissitudes of descendant life, as a result of their adverse effects do not converge till now. At the time of Japan, there were many Yin-yang diviners preached weal or woe of human life for the common people. As the time passed, they were gradually increasing and Kasou-sho were also gradually increasing. Today in Japan and East Asia, we can take many books of feng-shui judgment and Kasou documents in our hand. These are filled with bothersome non-scientific judgment items. And because there are many different items in each feng-shui manuals, of course these books are fortune-telling books, but we can also find “some vestiges of scientific thought” in such feng-shui fortune-telling judgment items. European awareness about the declination was the end of 14th century, that is to say several hundred years later for China. Chinese direction finding methods and land surveying technology and knowledge, whose development was motivated by feng-shui divination and observation, subsequently spread to Europe (12th century) and Arabia (13th century). Therefore, today we must take another look at feng-shui research, on a global scale.
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Pettit, J. E. E. "Tao Hongjing and the Reading of Daoist Geography." East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine 50, no. 1 (June 25, 2019): 133–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/26669323-05001006.
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This article studies ways in which Daoist writers in early medieval China represented sacred lands. It goes beyond the descriptions of Daoist sacred geography to analyze ways in which these texts were tools to disseminate new revelations about the ancient history and ownership of temple lands. It begins by looking at Han dynasty conceptions of mountains, in particular the role of individuals who were privy to the hidden, esoteric knowledge of land formations. The second part of the article focuses on the writings of the fifth century polymath Tao Hongjing. These commentaries provide valuable insight into the kinds of social exchanges that underpin the writing of Daoist geography. These writings about religious geography reflect the interests of a new clerical class of individuals who developed and recreated sacred sites on behalf of royal benefactors.
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Masalha, Nur. "The Concept of Palestine: The Conception Of Palestine from the Late Bronze Age to the Modern Period." Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies 15, no. 2 (November 2016): 143–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/hlps.2016.0140.
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The Concept of Palestine is deeply rooted in the collective consciousness of the indigenous people of Palestine and the multicultural ancient past. The name Palestine is the most commonly used from the Late Bronze Age (from 1300 BCE) onwards. The name Palestine is evident in countless histories, inscriptions, maps and coins from antiquity, medieval and modern Palestine. From the Late Bronze Age onwards the names used for the region, such as Djahi, Retenu and Cana'an, all gave way to the name Palestine. Throughout Classical Antiquity the name Palestine remained the most common and during the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods the concept and political geography of Palestine acquired official administrative status. This article sets out to explain the historical origins of the concept of Palestine and the evolving political geography of the country. It will seek to demonstrate how the name ‘Palestine’ (rather than the term ‘Cana'an’) was most commonly and formally used in ancient history. It argues that the legend of the ‘Israelites’ conquest of Cana'an’ and other master narratives of the Bible evolved across many centuries; they are myth-narratives, not evidence-based accurate history. It further argues that academic and school history curricula should be based on historical facts/empirical evidence/archaeological discoveries – not on master narratives or Old Testament sacred-history and religio-ideological constructs.
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TOZAN, Murat. "Physiognomy and Geosophy of Pergamon according to Aelius Aristeides." Gephyra, no. 26 (August 25, 2023): 39–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.1300441.
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Geographical depictions in ancient texts are often personal, biased, subjective, and sometimes imaginative. Therefore, the concept of geosophy coined by J. Kirtland Wright is important in terms of examining the geographical narratives and expressions in historical texts. According to him, geosophy is the study of geographical information in all respects and covers both true and false geographical ideas of all manner of people. Hence, Wright emphasizes that intuitive, imaginative and subjective thoughts are also valuable in geographical perception and should be taken into consideration. Examining all kinds of information related to the geographical perception in the texts from past to present brings the concept of geosophy closer to history as a discipline. In this study, physiognomic and geographical definitions of Aelius Aristeides, an orator and sophist of the 2nd century CE, about Pergamon, which is the most important ancient settlement of Kaikos Valley, and its surroundings are examined in terms of geosophical subjectivity and imagining categories. Thus, it is revealed that the examination of the narratives of ancient texts on terrestrial space from the geosophical point of view can offer new perspectives in studies on ancient history and historical geography.
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Kostuch, Lucyna. "Do animals have a homeland? Ancient Greeks on the cultural identity of animals." Humanimalia 9, no. 1 (September 22, 2017): 69–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.52537/humanimalia.9614.
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The article aims to answer the following questions: How did the ancient Greeks associate animals with space, geography and their own settlements? Did they attribute nationality and territory to animals? Did they think animals missed their homelands? Could a foreign animal — according to the Greeks — experience a process of cultural integration, namely Hellenization? The Greeks attributed regional identity to animals, defined by the local geography and by the history of a region enclosed by borders. At the same time, the world of animals seemed to be ethnically diversified, for the Hellenes coined the terms: “Hellenic animal” — belonging to the Greek culture; and “barbaric animal” — belonging to a foreign culture. According to the ancient Greeks, each animal had its homeland and customs, and could feel at home in some place on the globe. Additionally, there are some examples of non-native animals who experienced the process of “Hellenization.”
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Waiveris, Charles, and Timothy V. Craine. "Activities: Where Are We?" Mathematics Teacher 89, no. 6 (September 1996): 524–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.5951/mt.89.6.0524.
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Humans have been observing the motion of celestial bodies for thousands of years. This ancient knowledge coupled with the relatively recent introduction of latitude and longitude enables us to devise a simple procedure for determining our exact location on Earth. The mathematics for this activity is accessible to high school students and can be integrated with astronomy, geography, and history.
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Harutyunyan, Hakob. "The Question of Byzantine Armenia in “Ancient Armenian Geography” (or “Ashkharatsuyts”)." Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Serija 4. Istorija. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenija, no. 6 (December 2023): 191–200. http://dx.doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2023.6.15.
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Introduction. Until now, the issue of four Byzantine (Justinian) Armenias in historiography has been considered according to the data of the Byzantine historian of the 6th century Procopius of Caesarea, which does not give grounds for a final answer to the questions posed. Analysis. When comparing the data of Procopius with the information of “Ashkharatsuyts” (“Ancient Armenian Geography”), we find many discrepancies (especially when considering the contour of the borders of I, II and III Armenias). According to the “Ancient Armenian Geography”, the territory of I Armenia was expanded both at the expense of the other two, and at the expense of Cilicia and northwestern Syria. Results. So, under Emperor Justinian, a new defensive line was created, which we for the first time in historiography called the “Mamikonyan line”. One can rely on the information of Ashkharatsuyts almost without hesitation, since this work was written in the 5th – 7th centuries, and the lion’s share of the information was supplemented by the second author of the work, Anania Shirakatsi (it is convincingly proven that the first author was the father of Armenian historiography, Movses Khorenatsi). Justinian trusted the Mamikonyan family, being convinced that they had previously faithfully served the kings of Greater Armenia, the Arshakids, and was practically not mistaken in his calculations.
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Otarbaeva, Bakhytnur. "A Brief History of the Kazak People*." Nationalities Papers 26, no. 3 (September 1998): 421–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00905999808408575.
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We, the people of Kazakstan, creatingstatehood on the ancient KAZAK land … Constitution of the Republic of KazakstanIn December 1995, Kazakstan celebrated its fifth anniversary as a sovereign state, although the rich, tumultuous history of the Kazaks themselves encompasses more than five centuries. The complexity of this history is revealed in a statement by Kemal Akishev, a well-known archeologist: “Kazakstan reveals itself through territorial contact, where, beginning in ancient times, infiltration and aggression, immigration and ethnic immigration, the integration and spreading of culture, and racial and linguistic palimpsests took place.” The ethnogenesis of the Kazak people can be divided into three periods: the pre-Turkic, the Turkic, and the Turko-Mongolian periods. The development of modern Kazakstan likewise falls into three periods: the pre-revolutionary, the Soviet, and the modern republic.
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Kosmin, Paul J. "Enoch the Explorer: 1 Enoch 17–36 in Its Hellenistic Context." Journal of Biblical Literature 143, no. 1 (March 15, 2024): 67–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1431.2024.4.
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Abstract The journeys undertaken by the antediluvian patriarch Enoch, in 1 Enoch 17–36, engage closely with a well-known contemporary practice of Hellenistic courts: the dispatching of expeditions of exploration. Such reframing can situate this early Jewish apocalypse more fully within its third-century BCE intellectual, cultural, and political ecosystem and also make space for Judean thought in the history of ancient geography.
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Kaufman, Terrence, and John Justeson. "THE HISTORY OF THE WORD FOR CACAO IN ANCIENT MESOAMERICA." Ancient Mesoamerica 18, no. 2 (2007): 193–237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0956536107000211.
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AbstractThe word *kakaw(a) (‘cacao’, Theobroma cacao) was widely diffused among Mesoamerican languages, and from there to much of lower Central America. This study provides evidence establishing beyond reasonable doubt that this word originated in the Mije-Sokean family; that it spread from the Mije-Sokean languages in or around the Olmec heartland into southeastern Mesoamerican languages; that its diffusion into Mayan languages took place between about 200 B.C. and A.D. 400; and that it spread from a Mije-Sokean language in or near the Basin of Mexico into languages in the region. It shows that each of the arguments presented by Dakin and Wichmann (2000) against a Mije-Sokean origin is either unworkable, is based upon false premises, or is not relevant; and that their proposed alternative — that it originated in and spread from Nawa into other Mesoamerican languages — conflicts with the mass of evidence relevant to the issue.This study also discusses the linguistic details of vocabulary for drinks made from cacao; shows that no proposed etymology for the word chocolate is correct, but agrees with Dakin and Wichmann that its proximate source is a Nawa form chikola:tl; and discusses the history of words for Theobroma bicolor (‘Nicaragua chocolate tree; pataxte’) and their use.The linguistic data are pertinent to issues of intergroup interaction in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, but do not shed light on the nature or the cultural context of the diffusion of cacao in Mesoamerica, nor on its uses.
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Schjerning, Camilla. "An ancient and industrious place: visual geographies and urban identity in a Danish provincial town,c. 1780–1915." Urban History 47, no. 1 (May 6, 2019): 63–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0963926819000208.
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AbstractThrough the example of Danish provincial town, Odense, the article explores the role of visual culture in the construction and transformation of nineteenth-century provincial identities and placemaking in an industrial town. It demonstrates that while representations may follow certain aesthetic conventions of urban imagery and ideas of urban prestige, they both reflect and contribute to the construction and reproduction of a specific local, imagined geography; an imagined geography where initially history and nature and as time progresses signs of industriousness and in particular an infrastructure of civic culture merges into a narrative of an ancient and industrious place.
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Herzen, Andrey, Silviya Kostovska, and Tamara Nesterova. "Mysteries of Vasilkov on the Dniester: history, geography, toponymy, architecture." InterCarto. InterGIS 27, no. 4 (2021): 495–519. http://dx.doi.org/10.35595/2414-9179-2021-4-27-495-519.
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The article provides a comprehensive historic-geographical, toponymic and architectural analysis of a unique monument of medieval religious and defensive architecture—the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Vasilkov on the Dniester and its surroundings, located on the modern state border of Moldavia with the Ukraine, and in the Middle Ages it served as the border point of the Principality of Moldavia with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Eastern outpost of the capital of the tsinut (county) of Soroky and its main fortification—the Soroka castle. The architecture of the rural temple with a bell tower, erected on the elevated cape with steep slopes, is a rare example of a preserved structure that combines the traditions of wooden architecture based on the proportions used in antiquity for the construction of stone churches. The medieval fortified point with a unique monument of the cult-defensive architecture together with a courtyard, a trading square, as well as an ancient trade road and a river crossing represent a united natural and historic-cultural complex. The solution of historic-geographical puzzles enveloping the monument of heritage is based on a comprehensive multiscale historic-cartographical analysis and the use of modern geographic information methods, including comparison of topographic maps with aerial and satellite images of the terrain, as well as high-precision digital elevation models, hydrography and other cartographic products. A method of comparing cartographic images of an area in chronological slices (in different historical periods) is supposed to be highly effective. It allows you to observe the historic-geographical evolution of the area. A research of the complex of toponymic problems associated with the territory under study reveals the processes of massive transfer of geographical names in antiquity, covering not only the North-Western Black Sea Region and adjacent territories, but also much wider spaces of the East European Plain, where modern toponymic landscapes were formed.
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Speal, C. Scott. "The Economic Geography of Chert Lithic Production in the Southern Maya Lowlands: A Comparative Examination of Early-Stage Reduction Debris." Latin American Antiquity 20, no. 1 (March 2009): 91–119. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1045663500002534.
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AbstractIt has been known for several decades that certain regions of the Maya Lowlands were characterized by specialized production of chert tools in ancient times. The extent, intensity, organization, and net social effects of centralized lithic production in the Maya area as a whole, however, are not well understood. In order to address issues of broader relevance to social and economic processes, lithicists working in the Maya region need to develop analytical approaches suited to the study of complex economies. The research presented here attempts to establish simple baseline measures for use in comparing the production of siliceous stone tools, both formal and expedient, at different scales across the Maya area. Scholarship in this region has been chronically plagued by prolonged, unresolved debates—mostly a factor of the multitude of single-site-focused projects employing different methodologies and research emphases. The present study therefore proposes a new direction in Maya lithic studies with the goal of enhancing comparability of data on ancient economic structure through the use of standardized statistics that facilitate spatial analysis. Using the proportion of early-stage core reduction debris to the total of all debitagefrom a given context, for instance, enables the analyst to roughly assess the amount of tool manufacture taking place locally. By extension, inferences can be made about the degree of economic integration and interdependence characterizing any given geographic scale, including the architectural group, site, region, and so on. Preliminary analysis of patterns in early-stage reduction illustrates differential spatial distributions of chert tool production and consumption at several scales from across the southern Lowlands, allowing for the refinement of current models of ancient Maya lithic economy.
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Szabó, Péter. "Ancient woodland boundaries in Europe." Journal of Historical Geography 36, no. 2 (April 2010): 205–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2009.10.005.
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Batty, Roger. "Mela's Phoenician Geography." Journal of Roman Studies 90 (November 2000): 70–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/300201.
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The appearance in 1998 of F. E. Romer's English translation of Pomponius Mela's De Chorographia has helped to raise further the profile of this previously rather obscure author. Indeed, since the publication a decade previously of the Budé edition by Alain Silberman, interest in Mela seems to have grown quite steadily. Important contributions in German by Kai Brodersen have widened our appreciation of Mela's place within ancient geography as a whole, and his role within the history of cartography has been the subject of a number of shorter pieces.One element common to all these works, however, is a continuing tendency to disparage both Mela himself and the work he created. This is typified by Romer, for whom Mela was ‘a minor writer, a popularizer, not a first-class geographer’; one ‘shocking reason’ for his choice of genre was simply poor preparation, ‘insufficient for technical writing in geography’. Similar judgements appear in the works of Brodersen and Silberman. Mela's inaccuracies are, for these critics, typical of the wider decline of geography in the Roman period. Perhaps such negative views sprang initially from a sense of frustration: it was counted as one of our author's chief defects that he failed to list many sources for his work. For scholars interested in Quellenforschung it makes poor reading. Yet, quite clearly, the De Chorographia has also been damned by comparison. Mela's work has been held against the best Graeco-Roman learning on geography during antiquity—against Strabo, Ptolemy, or Pliny—and it has usually been found wanting. Set against the achievements of his peers, his work does not stand close scrutiny. Thus, for most scholars, the text has been read as a failed exercise in technical geography, or a markedly inferior document in the wider Graeco-Roman geographical tradition.
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Kominko, Maja. "The Map of Cosmas, the Albi Map, and the Tradition of Ancient Geography." Mediterranean Historical Review 20, no. 2 (December 2005): 163–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09518960500481057.
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Marx, C. "Rectification of the ancient geographic coordinates in Ptolemy's Geographike Hyphegesis." History of Geo- and Space Sciences 3, no. 1 (March 28, 2012): 99–112. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hgss-3-99-2012.
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Abstract. A multitude of the ancient places given by Ptolemy in his Geography (~150 AD) are so far unknown. One of the main problems of their identification are the errors of the given ancient coordinates. The different kinds of errors are illustrated by examples. A new geodetic-statistical analysis method is described, by which groups of places with homogeneous systematic errors and places with gross errors can be determined. Based on a transformation function describing the systematic errors, presumable modern coordinates of unknown places can be computed. That, in conjunction with further information, can make possible their identification. A test of the analysis method is carried out on a complex simulated example and shows its practicability. The analysis method has been applied within an interdisciplinary research project on Ptolemy's Geography. Further developments of the method are imaginable to make it accessible for related data diagnostics.
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Shcheglov, Dmitry A. "The length of coastlines in Ptolemy's Geography and in ancient periploi." History of Geo- and Space Sciences 9, no. 1 (February 1, 2018): 9–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hgss-9-9-2018.
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Abstract. The lengths of the coastlines in Ptolemy's Geography are compared with the corresponding values transmitted by other ancient sources, presumably based on some lost periploi (literally "voyages around or circumnavigations", a genre of ancient geographical literature describing coastal itineraries). The comparison reveals a remarkable agreement between them, suggesting that Ptolemy relied much more heavily on these or similar periploi than it used to be thought. Additionally, a possible impact of Ptolemy's erroneous estimate of the circumference of the Earth is investigated. It is argued that this error resulted in two interrelated distortions of the coastal outlines in Ptolemy's Geography. First, the north–south stretches of the coast that were tied to particular latitudes are shown compressed relative to the distances recorded in other sources in roughly the same proportion to which Ptolemy's circumference of the Earth is underestimated relative to the true value. Second, in several cases this compression is compensated by a proportional stretching of the adjacent east–west coastal segments. In particular, these findings suggest a simple explanation for the strange shape of the Caspian Sea in Ptolemy's Geography.