GEOGRAPHICAL LATITUDE. 761 



symbol of the eartb, and tbat the hitter must therefore be rectangular 

 and twice as long as it is broad.' In the north was a lofty mountain^ 

 behind which the sun took his course at night in order to appear 

 again the next morning in the east.'^ That the earth was the center of 

 the universe could not be doubted by an orthodox Christian.^ It 

 stands to reason that with such conceptions of the world thjre was 

 felt no necessity for the use of parallels of latitude, and this branch, 

 together with the whole science of geography, fell into decay during 

 the period of the supremacy of the church. ISTothing more is heard 

 of astronomical observations to determine the location of places; the 

 gnomon, the sphere, together with most of the products of Grecian 

 culture, are buried in the dust, awaiting resurreqtion at the hands of 

 another race, itself now in the bonds of darkness, but soon to start on 

 a course of conquest over men and ideas unprecedented in its rapidity 

 and brilliancy. 



Though a wrong conception of the form of the earth was generally 

 accepted by the Christian Cliurch up to the time of the great dis- 

 coveries and circum-navigation of the globe, there were not wanting at 

 periods a few great minds which had a clearer idea of the truth. 

 Clemens, Origen, Ambrose, Basil,* John Scotus Erigena,^ the Vener- 

 able Bede,^ Virgilus af Juvavo,^ Adam of Bremen," and some others 

 are mentioned as having testified to a belief in the rotundity of the 

 earth.^ One fact notwithstanding remains certain, viz, that the church 

 officially opposed the doctrine in spite of the contrary opinion of a few 

 learned fathers, and the science of geography failed to receive any ad- 

 dition "to the knowledge which the ancients had of the globe and the 

 habital)le zones." ^^ 



The Jews believed the earth to be dat and Jerusalem in the center," 

 which idea was adopted by the earlier Christians along with the rest of 

 Jewish doctrine; and we find accordingly a number of crude* maps of 

 the world with Jerusalem in the center and Paradise to the east, which 

 on account of its importance was placed at the top of the map.'- With 



' Peschel, Abhandluugeu,i. 76. 



'^ Theory of Kosmas. Latronue, 610. 



^Latronne, 604. 



^Giiuther, Kosuiog. d, M. A. Ruiulschau. 



•"Lalroune, 317. Fiir Geogr. und Statis., IV. 313. 



•^La terre "est au milieu de celui-ci [le monde] comme le janne est dans I'o'uf. ' 

 Quoted by Santarem, L'histoire de la cosmograpliie, i. 2o. 



^Gunther, Studien, etc., 6. 



»Ibid., 8. 



9P6renn^s, Biog. universelle, xii, p. 387, mentions also as holding this belief St. - 

 Gr^goire de Nysse, St.-Gr<5goire do Nazianze, St.-Athanase; tbat St. -Hilary and 

 Origen mention the antipodes. 



'"Santarem, L'histoire de la cosmographic, i. 22, ird. 



"Ukert, 1.7. 



'*"Sachez que la Bible nomme I'Oricnt le devant; le snd la droite; le nord la 

 gauche." Lelewel, Table xiv, p. 15, quoting Meir al Dabi Hispanus, 1362. 



