DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5625#0277
246
Survey of the Ancient World
473. Era-
tosthenes
computes
the size of
the earth and
becomes the
first scientific
geographer
474. Botany,
zoology,
anatomy, and
medicine
475. Alexan-
drian library;
book publish-
ing and the
earliest gram-
mars and
dictionaries
Astronomy had now greatly aided in the progress of ge°£'
raphy. Eratosthenes, a great mathematical astronomer of Ale"'
andria, very cleverly computed the approximate size of the earth'
Much new information had also been gained regarding the
extent and the character of the new regions reached by naviga'
tion and exploration in this age from the eastern coast of India
to the British Isles. Eratosthenes was therefore able to write
a more accurate geography than anyone before his time. ^
contained the first map bearing a cross-net of lines indicat-
ing latitude and longitude. He thus became the founder of
scientific geography.
In the study, of animal and vegetable life Aristotle and his
pupils were the leaders, and the ancient world never outgrew
their observations (§ 479). For "the study of anatomy there
was a. laboratory ..in Alexandria,. at the Museum, which the
Ptolemies, furnished with condemned criminals, on whom viy1*.
section was practiced. In this way the nerves were discovered
to be the lines along which sensations pass to the brain.
Such
research even came very near to discovering the circulation of
the blood. Alexandria became the greatest center of medical
research in the ancient world, and here young men studied to
be physicians, just as they do at the present day.
Besides these natural sciences, there was now also much
study of literature. The first library founded and supported by
a Greek government had arisen during the childhood of Ale*'
ander the Great (not long before 350 b.c). All such efforts
were far surpassed by the Ptolemies at Alexandria, where their
library finally contained over half a million rolls. The immense
amount of. hand copying required to secure good and accurate
editions of famous works for this library gradually created
the new science of editing' and publishing correctly old and
often badly copied works.1 This naturally required much
language study, and the Alexandrian scholars then began to
write the first grammars and dictionaries.
1 See a page from the oldest surviving Greek book, Ancient Times, Fig. 223-
Survey of the Ancient World
473. Era-
tosthenes
computes
the size of
the earth and
becomes the
first scientific
geographer
474. Botany,
zoology,
anatomy, and
medicine
475. Alexan-
drian library;
book publish-
ing and the
earliest gram-
mars and
dictionaries
Astronomy had now greatly aided in the progress of ge°£'
raphy. Eratosthenes, a great mathematical astronomer of Ale"'
andria, very cleverly computed the approximate size of the earth'
Much new information had also been gained regarding the
extent and the character of the new regions reached by naviga'
tion and exploration in this age from the eastern coast of India
to the British Isles. Eratosthenes was therefore able to write
a more accurate geography than anyone before his time. ^
contained the first map bearing a cross-net of lines indicat-
ing latitude and longitude. He thus became the founder of
scientific geography.
In the study, of animal and vegetable life Aristotle and his
pupils were the leaders, and the ancient world never outgrew
their observations (§ 479). For "the study of anatomy there
was a. laboratory ..in Alexandria,. at the Museum, which the
Ptolemies, furnished with condemned criminals, on whom viy1*.
section was practiced. In this way the nerves were discovered
to be the lines along which sensations pass to the brain.
Such
research even came very near to discovering the circulation of
the blood. Alexandria became the greatest center of medical
research in the ancient world, and here young men studied to
be physicians, just as they do at the present day.
Besides these natural sciences, there was now also much
study of literature. The first library founded and supported by
a Greek government had arisen during the childhood of Ale*'
ander the Great (not long before 350 b.c). All such efforts
were far surpassed by the Ptolemies at Alexandria, where their
library finally contained over half a million rolls. The immense
amount of. hand copying required to secure good and accurate
editions of famous works for this library gradually created
the new science of editing' and publishing correctly old and
often badly copied works.1 This naturally required much
language study, and the Alexandrian scholars then began to
write the first grammars and dictionaries.
1 See a page from the oldest surviving Greek book, Ancient Times, Fig. 223-