Geography (Ptolemy)

The Geographike Hyphegesis ( Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις ) is created around the year 150 Atlas of Claudius Ptolemy. He is based in part on older sources, such as on the work of Marinos of Tyre and Hanno the Navigator.

Scope

When Geographike is a comprehensive representation of the known world of the 2nd century AD with about 8000 local information by a coordinate system. It is therefore the historically first known attempt, true to display portions of the detected ball as Earth in a map projection.

Problem

The modern interpretation of the ancient coordinates information has so far led to an inexplicable contradiction in terms of their location fidelity with respect to the two proposed by Ptolemy map projections, including the square planar map: Ptolemy doing at that time common pitch of the stadium used, which accounts for almost exactly one-fifth of one kilometer, however, he could have transferred most of the places of older and contemporary maps, which used different units of measurement.

For further uncertainties is responsible Ptolemy's method of work, the location information reports third parties ( namely: remote merchants ) should be used on their itineraries. In addition, the work is preserved only as a copy from the late Middle Ages. Because of the described type of data collection from multiple reports of varying quality, generally the problem of conversion of distances in degrees, subsequent changes mainly of settlements by resulting waste places and renaming as well as because of alleged errors in the duplication in the medieval scriptoria many local details are outside the difficult unique to the ancient Roman Empire, - although going to intrude on some considerations to their local situation and Thoroughfare function positively, especially about to Marioni and Marioni alterative and a connection between these two places on the situation of both striking north-eastern extremes of the North Sea - Baltic Sea watershed to Lübeck bay side.

Interpretation by Alfred Stückelberger and his staff, Bern

The Ptolemy Research Centre in Bern under the direction of Alfred Stückelberger a new edition of the Handbook of geography ( = Geographike hyphegesis ) of Claudius Ptolemy created (Text edition 2006; Supplement 2009), the first comprehensive revision since more than 150 years, the first time a complete German translation contains. In the design of the Greek text for the first time was probably the most important, until 1927 in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul maps discovered manuscript ( Codex Seragliensis GI 57, 1300 ) are evaluated continuously; through it, numerous readings are confirmed.

The resulting by about 150 AD in Alexandria Geographike Hyphegesis of Claudius Ptolemy belongs with its theoretical bias, with the new projection methods for a world map, with its local catalog of about 6400 by coordinate specific locations as well as a map atlas with world map and 26 country maps to the most important surviving works of the ancient history of science. This work made ​​available to a wider public was the declared goal of the staff team of the Berne Ptolemy Research Centre: A German translation, the necessary property declarations in the notes and a comprehensive register should ensure this.

In particular, the approximately 13,000 coordinate data, which are often passed down incorrectly and inconsistently in the manuscripts, are tested under comparison with traditional cards on their plausibility. Because of this review is - based on the manuscripts - the whole set of cards by Florian Mittenhuber redrawn and been so daring an attempt to make the original work of Ptolemy visible again. That Ptolemy to obtain the coordinates and thus the design of the cards very different, partly templates faulty sources and the now traditional geographic image absolutely has distortions, was the editor team aware from the outset. Since the causes of these distortions can be very different style but it will be difficult to equalize the traditional data over a large area.

Interpretation by Dieter Lelgemann and others, Berlin

In the Geographike Hyphegesis many places are first provided with coordinates such that it maps or an atlas could draw, if the information would not be subject to a multitude of errors. As far as the places in Ptolemy's work attributed to the historical Roman Empire, can the place names partially locally assigned ( as is Argentoratum about the place that was located on the site of the present city of Strasbourg ). Outside the ancient Roman Empire lying places can be assigned locally, however, only in exceptional cases.

Progress in determining those local documents obtained through the results of a project of the Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformation Science at the Technical University of Berlin under the direction of Dieter Lelgemann, which inter alia dealt with the coordinate data in the second and third book of the Geographike Hyphegesis.

For the Ptolemaic places in Magna Germania (Book 2, Chapter 11), the scientists at the TU Berlin have succeeded with the help of some reference points ( CCAA, Vistula estuary, Bonn) to transfer the old coordinate values ​​in the modern geographic coordinate system.

According to the results of projects designated by Ptolemy for this part of the world places in four groups can be combined. The first three groups concerning this places whose coordinates common geodetic measurement or distortion errors are based, which can be calculated out. In the fourth group are not systematisierbare error, so they were not considered.

• Group 1: places with equalizable coordinates whose location is safe

• Group 2: Places with equalizable coordinates, the position of which is probably

• Group 3: places with equalizable coordinates, the position of which is uncertain

It can not simply be regarded as the continuation of the settlement history associated with historic village because of the migration of the specified place today.

The contemporary scientific concerns of Ptolemy is to gather places Germania magna who share an equal distance between pole and equator to his knowledge, to " climates ". The term "climate " is thus not used to describe climate zones in the modern sense, but it involves " a land whose parts had the same inclination angle of the rays of the sun against the horizon and thus all under the same, width ' were. " This division of the Germanic places in climates could be due to measurements of the Roman army that were created for the campaigns in Germany between 14 BC and 16 AD, and emanating from the Roman garrisons on the Rhine. Apparently Ptolemy had access to it.