In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

194 LETTERS IN CANADA 2000 J. Lennart Berggren and Alexander Jones. Ptolemy=s Geography. An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters Princeton University Press. xvi, 192. US $60.95 The astronomical and mathematical work of Claudius Ptolemy is well known to classical scholars and historians of science. Most famous for his precise mathematical astronomy in the Almagest, Ptolemy=s Geographia has been comparatively little studied by modern scholars. Yet, as J. Lennart Berggren and Alexander Jones argue, both works were important components in Ptolemy=s creation of a complete view of the earth and its cosmos. In Geographia, Ptolemy used astronomical and mathematical methods to provide the first clear discussion of how to depict the terrestrial globe in a rigorous manner. This was necessary for the astronomical work of the earlier Almagest. Unfortunately, scholars have lacked a reliable translation of this important classical source. Berggren and Jones are thus to be congratulated for producing what will now become the standard English translation of the Geographia (or Geography, as they entitle it). Ptolemy=s Geographia was essentially a set of instructions as to how to construct maps both global and local. As Berggren and Jones point out, the title can be translated as >Guide to Drawing a Map of the World.= Ptolemy sets up a web of latitude and longitude co-ordinates, and explains the use of astronomy in order to discover these co-ordinates. His choice of intervals of longitude reflects different local times: >Thus it is fundamentally a net of time, not of degrees, that Ptolemy casts over the earth.= Book 1 contains instructions on how to draw these maps. Books 2B7 provide a gazetteer of longitude and latitude co-ordinates of known places, including towns and cities, borders, and geographical features. Book 8 is a set of captions for the finished maps. Berggren and Jones have provided the full text of book 1, with an excerpt from book 2 and book 8, looking at the Roman province of Gaul. First, however, the authors provide a detailed introduction, in which they explain the mathematics and geography of Ptolemy=s audience, as well as the argument in the book itself. Berggren and Jones argue that the Geography is an integral part of Ptolemy=s larger works, coming after the Almagest and prompted by geographical concerns in Ptolemy=s astronomical work. Berggren and Jones examine the sources used by Ptolemy, especially Marinos, whom Ptolemy critiques. They discuss Ptolemy=s map projections, his use and distrust of travellers= and merchants= accounts, and his sources for latitude and longitude co-ordinates. Finally, Berggren and Jones consider the manuscript tradition of the Geography (no editions are known before the thirteenth century), as well as the translation tradition. The translation is very readable, with a series of useful appendices. Berggren and Jones have made some interesting translation choices, HUMANITIES 195 particularly to change the usual division for geography and chorography into world and regional geography. Their mathematical explanations are exemplary. This is a volume that can be used with confidence. As well, the twenty maps and plates are well reproduced or newly drawn and add greatly to an understanding of Ptolemy=s enterprise. As well as providing an excellent English text, Berggren and Jones advance several important arguments concerning Ptolemy and the Geography. First, they >have argued that, taken as a whole, the Geography is an unified composition that may be ascribed with confidence to its traditional author, Ptolemy.= Second, they posit that Ptolemy probably did not include maps with his original work, a question that has concerned scholars for hundreds of years. Berggren and Jones have produced a fine volume and an excellent piece of scholarship. It provides the reader with everything she or he will need to understand Ptolemy=s work. What is absent is a historical or social context. This is not a book that explains Ptolemy=s role in Alexandrine society, or how that society helped him produce the astronomical and geographical books he wrote. Nor does it speak to the impact these works had, on those interested either in natural philosophical or mathematical topics, or in political and mercantile affairs. On the other hand, this was not the function of...

pdf

Share