Il Mediterraneo di Tolomeo - Ptolomy's Mediterranean

The Cosmographia of Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolomy) has been, for more than a thousand years, the starting point for any geographic speculation both in the Western and Arabian culture. The image of the world begins to change, though slowly, only from the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Ptolemy’s Geography, a typical expression of the idea of Alexandrian science, may be considered as the summa of all the Greek knowledge gathered from Thales to the second century A.D. The world of Eratosthenes had expanded to include China, Southeast Asia, the southern part of East Africa, the Mountains of the Moon in Central Africa ... Ptolemy’s Geography includes this portion of the earth, complete with latitude and longitude, an index of places and a large topographic comment. In this work, divided into eight books concerning different areas, is possible to distinguish two parts: the first consists of a set of general principles concerning Geography, instructions for drawing maps (as many as 27) and a list of specific sites. Ptolemy wonders about the extension of the oecuméne, the value of longitude and the problem of map projections. The second part contains a list of about 8,000 sites, analyzed through coordinates and curiosities. One can say, with no doubt, that Ptolemy is the scientist to whom the West owes its own "physical" image of the world, as well as Aristotle is the philosopher to whom it owes its "spiritual" image .