Geography

​It remains to speak of the bands of latitude, which itself also presents a general sketch, starting from those lines which we called elements—I mean the line defining the greatest length and the one defining the width, and especially the one defining the width. Now, this must be done to a greater extent by astronomers, just as Hipparchus did. For he recorded, as he himself says, the differences that occur in the celestial phenomena for each place on the earth among those situated in our quarter, by which I mean the places from the equator to the north pole. But those who write on geography must neither care for the things outside our inhabited world, nor, within the parts of the inhabited world itself, must such and so many differences be admitted for the statesman; for they are too rigid. Rather, it is enough to set forth the notable and simpler of those differences mentioned by him, assuming, just as he did, that the size of the earth is 252,000 stades, as Eratosthenes also estimates; for there will be no great difference in relation to the phenomena in the intervals between the habitations on this account. If, then, one should divide the greatest circle of the earth into 360 parts, each of the parts will be 700 stades; he indeed uses this measure for the distances that are to be taken on the said meridian through Meroe. He, indeed, begins with those who inhabit the equator, and then, continually going through the successive habitations at intervals of 700 stades along the said meridian, attempts to state the phenomena for each; but we must not begin from there. For even if these parts are habitable, as some think, this is a certain separate inhabited world, stretched out as a narrow strip through the middle of the uninhabitable region because of the heat, not being a part of our inhabited world; and the geographer surveys this, our inhabited world, alone. And this is bounded by limits: on the south by the parallel through the Cinnamon-producing country, and on the north by the one through Ierne; and we must neither go over as many habitations as the said interval between them dictates, nor must we set down all the phenomena, keeping in mind the character of geography. But we must begin, just as Hipparchus did, from the southern parts.

​Now he says that for those who inhabit the parallel through the Cinnamon-producing country—which is 3,000 stades south of Meroe, and the equator is 8,800 stades south of this—their habitation is very nearly midway between the equator and the summer tropic at Syene; for Syene is 5,000 stades distant from Meroe; and that among these people first, the Little Bear is entirely contained within the arctic circle and is always visible; for the bright star at the tip of the tail, being the southernmost, is situated on the arctic circle itself, so as to touch the horizon. And to the said meridian, the Arabian Gulf lies adjacent, being in a way parallel to it on the east; and the exit of this gulf into the outer sea is the Cinnamon-producing country, where the hunting of elephants used to take place in ancient times. And this parallel runs on the one side to those who live a little to the south of Taprobane, or to the ultimate inhabitants, and on the other side to the southernmost parts of Libya.

​And for those at Meroe and Ptolemais in the Troglodyte country, the longest day is thirteen equinoctial hours; and this habitation is in a way midway between the equator and the parallel through Alexandria, except for the 1,800 stades which are in excess on the side of the equator; and the parallel through Meroe extends on the one side through unknown parts, and on the other through the extremities of India. And at Syene and Berenice in the Arabian Gulf and the Troglodyte country, at the summer solstice, the sun is directly overhead, and the longest day is thirteen and a half equinoctial hours, and in the arctic circle, the Great Bear also is visible almost entire, except for the legs, the tip of the tail, and one of the stars in the bowl. And the parallel through Syene extends on the one side through the country of the Ichthyophagi along Gedrosia, and through India, and on the other side through the regions south of Cyrene by almost 5,000 stades.