The Edges of the Earth in Ancient Thought: Geography, Exploration, and Fiction

By James Romm

Book Overview

For the Greeks and Romans the earth's farthest perimeter was a realm radically different from what they perceived as central and human. The alien qualities of these "edges of the earth" became the basis of a literary tradition that endured throughout antiquity and into the Renaissance, despite the growing challenges of emerging scientific perspectives. Here James Romm surveys this tradition, revealing that the Greeks, and to a somewhat lesser extent the Romans, saw geography not as a branch of physical science but as an important literary genre.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691037884
• ISBN13: 9780691037882
• Release Date: September 1994
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.5"