19 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
Paralleu* or 
La mm* and 
Mkhidiav* nr 
I/Mtornro* 
MiBOOoen 
of Strabo that Eratosthenes made it one of his special objects to reform the map of the 
v. .rl.L ami to construct it on more scientific principles; his methods were strictly 
- ■ : • tic, oid lie i ay lv regarded as the father of systematic geography. Eratosthenes 
adopt' d tin views held by Aristotle and Euclid 2 regarding the figure and position of the 
.•a: th, looking upon it tis a sphere placed in the centre of the universe, around 
tl o;l. r celestial bodies revolved every twenty-four hours, the sun and moon 
having independent motions of their own. For all practical purposes, then, his views 
■ ditl'c great 1} from those of the modern geographer, except in the difference 
I t 1 1 the geocentric and heliocentric standpoints. He estimated the distance between 
Sycnc oid Alexandria at 5000 stadia, and regarding this as one-fiftieth of a great circle 
• »f the sphere, calculated the circumference of the earth to be 250,000 stadia (equivalent 
i " 2 .‘>00 geographical miles), a surprising approximation to the truth. From this he 
1 tint on the parallel of Rhodes and the Pillars of Hercules, the circumference 
v.i- a built 200,000 stadia. The habitable w r orlcl he regarded as a little more than a 
third --I the circumference in that latitude; the interval of two- thirds he conceived to be 
filled up by the sea, and observes : — “ If it were not that the vast extent of the Atlantic 
rendered it impossible, one might even sail from the coast of Spain to that of India 
• dong the Mime parallel. 3 This is the first record of theoretical views on the possibility 
<-f circumnavigating the giobe. He divided the space occupied by the habitable world 
iy i in. - at intervals parallel to the equator, and he drew a meridian line at right angles 
t" tin— passing through Alexandria, thus introducing what we now call parallels of 
■ 1 1 : i 1 . iid meridians of longitude. His map was most defective, arising chiefly from 
the rroiie"U- calculation of distances, for the measurement of ordinary distances was 
ru- t description, more especially with regard to journeys by sea. Ancient 
v _ .torn had no means of reckoning analogous to the modern log; distances by sea 
v. ■ i' r all} nothing more than the conversion of the number of days or nights occupied 
by the voyages into stadia. (See Plate III.). 
lh.it -th. ne~ belo ved that Africa was surrounded to the south by the sea, as is 
• v. d !.; from tl - f' . qui nt employment of the word Atlantic in reference to the Indian 
II md St mb. i tells us that he considered the Erythraean Sea and the Western Ocean 
as one and the same body of water . 4 
Lr.itiet I,, m- had the courage to assert that Homer w r as ignorant of regions not 
ii ’ hatcly adj i- .-at to Greece and he gave much offence by saying that people would 
v. i dm over th<' real localities described in the Odyssey — the islands of iEolus, Circe, 
( dyp ' »- — until they had found out the cobbler who had sewn up the bag of iEolus. 
hr ; linn, i aid to have made most extensive use of a treatise “Concerning 
• ' >wn up by Timo-thcn- a native of Rhodes, who was admiral of the Egyptian 
’ ' ‘ 1, - L wi*. Hikt.iricAl Survey of the Astronomy of the Ancients, pp. 187, 188, London, 1862. 
1 , c p, .-. >ur . ■)> r i., v..l ( i. p, 627 (compare passage from Aristotle, page 15 ante). 4 Strabo, i. 3 , 13 . 
