ERATOSTHENES. 
385 
rounded on all sides by the sea, unless at the isth- 
mus of Suez or the Nile. When, however, he 
states Arabia* as the country in the world which 
extends farthest to the south, he manifestly be- 
trays his very inadequate conceptions, as to the 
extent, in that direction, of the African conti- 
nent. 
The next system generally adopted in the an- 
cient world was that of Eratosthenes, librarian at 
Alexandria, during the time of Ptolemy Philadel- 
phus. His system is explained to us by Strabo, 
who adopted it under some modifications ; it was 
also fundamentally that of Mela, Pliny, and gene- 
rally of the Latin classic writers. 
Eratosthenes, like his predecessor, conceived 
the southern coast of Africa to be washed by 
the ocean, and also, like him, supposed it to ter- 
minate north of the equator. It was supposed, 
that, after passing the Straits, it very soon began 
to take a direction to the E. S. E. which it followed 
till it joined the eastern coast near the foot of the 
Arabian Gulf. It was compared to a trapezium, 
or irregular four-sided figure, of which the Medi- 
terranean coast formed one side, the Nile another, 
the southern coast the longest side, and the west- 
ern coa3t the shortest.t So little were geograpli- 
VOL. II. 
f Strabo, Lib. xvii. princ. 
Bb 
