Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/592

580 PTOLEMAEUS. longitudes and latitudes, and from these positions he determined the others by converting their dis-. tances in stadia into degrees. For further details the reader is referred to his own work. His general ideas of the form of the known world were in some points more correct, in others less so, than those of Strabo. The elongation of the whole of course led to a corresponding dis- tortion of the shapes of the several countries. He knew the southern part of the Baltic, but was not aware of its being an inland sea. He makes the Palus Maeotis far too large and extends it far too much to the north. The Caspian he correctly makes an inland sea (instead of a gulf of the Northern Ocean), but he errs greatly as to its size and form, making its length from E. to W. more than twice that from N. to S. In the southern and south-eastern parts of Asia, he altogether fails to repi-esent the projection of Hindostan, while, on the other hand, he gives to Ceylon (Tapro- bane) more than four times its proper dimensions, probably through confounding it with the mainland of India itself, and brings down the southern part of it below the equator. He shows an ac- quaintance with the Malay peninsula (his Aurea Chersonesus) and the coast of Cochin China ; but, probably through mistaking the eastern Archi- pelago for continuous land, he brings round the land which encloses his Sinus Magnus and the gulf of the Sinae (probably either the gulf of Siam and the Chinese Sea, or both confounded together) so as to make it enclose the whole of the Indian Ocean on the south. At the opposite extremity of the known world, his idea of the western coast of Africa is very erroneous. He makes it trend almost due south from the pillars of Hercules to the Hespera Keras in 8/5 N. lat,, where a slight bend to the eastward indicates the Gulf of Guinea ; but almost immediately afterwards the coast turns again to the S. S. W. ; and from the expression already quoted, which Ptolemy uses to describe the bound- ary of the known world on this side, it would seem as if he believed that the land of Africa ex- tended here considerably to the west. Concerning the interior of Africa he knew considerably more than his predecessors. Several modern geogra- phers have drawn maps to represent the views of Ptolemy ; one of the latest and best of wiiich is that of Ukert (Geogr. d. Griech. u. Roiner, vol. i. pi. 3). Such are the principal features of Ptolemy's geographical system. It only remains to give a brief outline of the contents of his work, and to mention the principal editions of it. Enough has already been said respecting the first, or intro- ductory book. The next six books and a half (ii. — vii. 4) are occupied with the description of the known world, beginning with the West of Europe, the description of which is contained in book ii. ; next comes the East of Europe, in book iii. ; then Africa, in book iv. ; then Western or Lesser Asia, in book v. ; then the Greater Asia, in book vi. ; then India, the Chersonesus Aurea, Serica, the Sinae, and Taprobane, in book vii. cc. 1 — 4. The form in which the de- scription is given is that of lists of places with their longitudes and latitudes, arranged under the heads, first, of the three continents, and then of the seveml countries and tribes. Prefixed to each section is a brief general description of the bound- aries and divisions of the part about to be de- scribed i and remarks of a miscellaneous chanicter PTOLEMAEUS. are interspersed among the lists, to which, how- ever, they bear but a small proportion. The remaining part of the seventh, and the whole of the eighth book, are occupied with a description of a set of maps of the known world, which is introduced by a remark at the end of the 4th chapter of the 7th book, which clearly proves that Ptolemy's work had originally a set of maps appended to it. In c. 5 he describes the general map of the world. In cc. 6, 7, he takes up the subject of spherical delineation, and describes the armillary sphere, and its connection with the sphere of the earth. In the first two chapters of book viii., he explains the method of dividing the world into maps, and the mode of constructing each map ; and he then proceeds (cc. 3 — 28) to the description of the maps themselves, in number twenty-six, namely, ten of Europe, four of Libya, and twelve of Asia. The 29th chapter contains a list of the maps, and the countries represented in each ; and the 30th an account of the lengths and breadths of the portions of the earth contained in the respec- tive maps. These maps are still extant, and an account of them is given under Agathodaemon, who was either the original designer of them, under Ptolemy's direction, or the constructor of a new edition of them. Enough has been already said to show the great value of Ptolemy's work, but its perfect integrity is another question. It is impossible but that a work, which was for twelve or thirteen centuries the text-book in geography, should have suffered corruptions and interpolations ; and one writer has contended that the changes made in it during the middle ages were so great, that we can no longer recognise in it the work of Ptolemy (Schldzer, Nord. Gesch. in the Allgem. WeWdstorie, vol. xxxi. pp. 148, 176). Mannert has successfully defended the genuineness of the work, and has shown to what an extent the eighth book may be made the means of detecting the corruptions in the body of the work. (vol. i. p. 174.) The GeograpUa of Ptolemy was printed in Latin, with the Maps, at Rome, 1462, 1475, 1478, 1482, 1486, 1490, all in folio: of these editions, those of 1482 and 1490 are the best: numerous other Latin editions appeared during the sixteenth century, the most important of which is that by Michael Servetus, Lugd. 1541, folio. The Editio Princeps of the Greek text is that edited by Eras- mus, Basil. 1533, 4to. ; reprinted at Paris, 1546, 4to. The text of Erasmus was reprinted, but with a new Latin Version, Notes, and Indices, edited by Petrus Montanus, and with the Maps restored by Mercator, Amst. 1 605, folio ; and a still more valuable edition was brought out by Petrus Ber- tius, printed by Elzevir, with the maps coloured, and with the addition of the Peutingerian Tables, and other important illustrative matter, Lugd. Bat. 1619, folio; reprinted Antwerp, 1624, folio. The work also foi-ms a part of the edition of Ptolemy's works, undertaken by the Abbfe Halmer, but left unfinished at his death, Paris, 1813— 1828, 4to. ; this edition contains a French translation of the work. For an account of the less important edi- tions, the editions of separate parts, the versions, and the works illustrating Ptolemy's Geography, see Hoffmann, Leoa. Bibliog. Script. Grace. A use- ful little edition of the Greek text is contained in three volumes of th*- Tauchuitz classics, Lips. 1843, 32mo. [P. S,J