This is a most useful volume, destined to be a primary source for classical scholars as well as for historians of science." -William A.S. "Arguably, has been the most lastingly influential of all works in the earth sciences. In Berggren and Jones has, at long last, found his ideal exponents." -Peter Green, London Review of Books A pleasure to read." -Liba Taub, Cambridge University
They have done a wonderful service to the study of a crucial text by one of the most important figures in the history of science. "Berggren and Jones have made a difficult, detailed and challenging text far more accessible and have produced a work that will be the standard for many years to come. The authors have done a splendid job in every way and have produced a work that will be useful for the duration of our lives and probably much longer." -Noel Swerdlow, University of Chicago and author of The Babylonian Theory of the Planets
It supersedes all previous translations and corrects all editions. "The translation is exemplary, surely the best in any language. Here Berggren and Jones render an exemplary translation of the Geography and provide a thorough introduction, which treats the historical and technical background of Ptolemy's work, the contents of the Geography, and the later history of the work. But more importantly, he introduced the practice of writing down coordinates of latitude and longitude for every feature drawn on a world map, so that someone else possessing only the text of the Geography could reproduce Ptolemy's map at any time, in whole or in part, at any scale.
Ptolemy championed the use of astronomical observation and applied mathematics in determining geographical locations. Written in the second century AD, for more than fifteen centuries it was the most detailed topography of Europe and Asia available and the best reference on how to gather data and draw maps. Ptolemy's Geography is the only book on cartography to have survived from the classical period and one of the most influential scientific works of all time.
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