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"On the Measurement of the Earth" continues the tradition, which dates back to ancient Greece and the time of Eratosthenes, of works on geodesy. The title is that of the lost work of Eratosthenes on the subject. Cherishing our planet through attention to its dimensions allows us to "know our place" and enjoy the wisdom that comes from this awareness. That the Earth has an ellipsoidal, not spherical, shape is well known. While Chimborazo's resulting status as the point farthest from the Earth's centre is generally understood, many other implications are unappreciated or hitherto undocumented. These include consideration of how to define the height of a mountain, calculation of the place closest to the Earth's centre, a formula for calculating distance to the Earth's centre for any point, a list of summits based on distance from the centre of the Earth and corrected for the geoid, calculation of the Earth's fastest-moving points, and new "Seven Summits" lists. The new concept of terrahelion allows calculation of the land point on the Earth's surface that comes closest to the Sun each year at perihelion. The insights that result from these new considerations of planetary shape provide new exploration opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses Lysias’Against Eratosthenesas an ancient Athenian instance of the superior orders plea, a line of defence made notorious during the Nuremberg trials, which in turn became the cornerstone of modern war crime legislation. Whereas the pre-Nuremberg jurisdiction largely embraced the principle of superior responsibility, whereby a subordinate executing criminal orders was not to be held liable for them, the trials of the Nazi war criminals brought about a complete reversal of this doctrine. While remaining faithful to the spirit of the Nuremberg jurisdiction, the subsequent legislative acts (which dealt, among other things, with the atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia) sought to further elaborate its underlying principle of absolute liability, in order to precisely determine the question of guilt and innocence. I argue that despite the close relationship between modern legal systems and Roman law, which fully embraced the doctrine of superior responsibility, it is in the juridical thought of ancient Athens that one finds the archetype of contemporary war crime legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposal I make for the restoration of fr. 22 Powell of the Erigone by Eratosthenes faithfully rewrites the manuscript tradition and does not conflict with the metre, as the line Ἰκαριοῖ, etc. (see fr. 4 R.) is balanced, thanks to the trihemimeral caesura and the bucolic diaeresis. To further my argument, I cite a series of hexameters from both earlier epic as well as that of the Hellenistic era, where the secondary caesurae (trihemimeral + hephthemimeral or bucolic) are either found alone or are reinforced, as the main caesura is absent or cannot be applied given the enclitic, preposition, and (sometimes) elision. Starting from the surviving line, I argue that in the Erigone mention was certainly made of the origins of tragedy, which are located in Attica. Eratosthenes drew from a preexisting theory and, through his authority, made it the prevailing one. This can be seen from a plethora of similar evidence, in both later Greek and Latin authors and scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to shed some light on the origins of Ptolemy’s map of the world, which remains a mystery. The premise is that Ptolemy and other ancient geographers largely drew on the same or a similar pool of sources and common beliefs. Similarities between them can, therefore, give us a key to understanding the prehistory of Ptolemy’s map. Comparison of distances on his map with those given by other sources leads to the conclusion that a large area of the map, approximately from the Bosporus to the Indus, reproduced Eratosthenes’ geographical system, with linear distances converted to angular degrees according to Eratosthenes’ own scale. It is argued that this area represents a remnant of an earlier version of Ptolemy’s map. Analysis of latitude and longitude reveals notable differences between Ptolemy’s map and Eratosthenes’ ideas concerning the latitude of Babylon and the Alexandrian prime meridian, and the impact this seems to have had on the shape of neighbouring regions is noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In his work On the Ancient Comedy, fr. 25 Strecker, Eratosthenes of Cyrene gives a positive appraisal of a metaphorical play on words by the comic poet Cratinus (fr. 54 Kassel / Austin), describing it as εἰς τὸ εἶδος οὐκ ἀρύθμως παίζειν. In this paper, it is argued that this expression, which is in conformity with Aristotelian theorization on metaphor, could also imply an enunciative reminiscence of the judgement given by Aristotle, who held that the irony of the poets of the Archaia was based on αἰσχρολογία, whereas contemporary poets preferred ἐμμελῶς παίζειν ( NE 4.14, 1128a 9). Some ancient explications transmitted in the scholia to Aristophanes' comedies seem to testify to the influence or reception of Eratosthenes' attitude in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eratosthenes (circa 276 B.C.-194 B.C.) is considered a famous scientist of ancient Greece. He was a mathematician and geographer. Born in Cyrene, now Shahhat (Libya), he was appointed to teach the son of the Egyptian King Ptolemy III Euergetes. In 240 B.C., he became the third chief librarian the Great Library of Alexandria. Eratosthenes laid basics for mathematical geography. He was the first to calculate precisely in an original way the Earth meridian's length between Syene and Alexandria. For this purpose he used perpendicular projection of the sun rays during summer solstice (06.22) near the town Syene, now Aswan. His estimation of the length of the Earth's radius (6300 km) is close to present estimation (6371 km). He calculated that a year possesses 365.25 days. He also emphasized the significance of maps as the most important thing in geography. Eratosthenes was the first one to use the term "geographem" to describe the Earth. In this way he legitimized the term of geography. He also put into system geographical information from various sources in order to obtain a map of the world as precise as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]