The Geography (1482) - Page 21

This translation follows scholarly standards for the Latin text of Ptolemy’s Cosmographia (the Geography), likely the Renaissance translation by Jacobus Angelus.

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...the river Tilaventum: he says that Tergestum is distant toward the summer sunrise [northeast] by four hundred and eighty stadia; but toward Ravenna, toward the winter sunrise [southeast], by a thousand stadia. Similarly, he reports that the Chelidoneas are opposite Canopus; Achamata in Paphos; and Paphos in Ibennitus. He also places the distance from the Chelidoneas to Achamata himself at a thousand stadia. From Canopus to Ibennitus, it is placed by Thymostenes at two hundred and ninety. But since they are under the same meridians, this distance ought undoubtedly to be greater, because it lies under the circumference of a larger parallel. Next, he says that Pisa is distant from Ravenna toward the south by seven hundred stadia; however, according to the proportion of climates and hours, he describes Pisa in the third hour [climate], and Ravenna in the fourth. Regarding Londinium in Britania: when he referred to Noiomagum as being five hundred and fifty-nine miles to the south, he fixed it at western inclinations. And although Mount Athos was placed by him on the parallel through the Hellespont, he places Amphipolis and the surrounding places above Athos and the mouths of the river Strimon—which are situated below the Hellespont—in the fourth climate. Similarly, although almost all of Thracia is located under the parallel of Byzantium, he notes all its inland cities in the climate which is above the same parallel. He also says he will locate Trapezos on the parallel of Byzantium. Then, showing Fatala of Armenia to be sixty miles from Trapezonte toward the south, in the description of the parallels of Byzantium, he draws the parallel through Fatala, not through Trapezos. Furthermore, he promises to describe the Nilum with precision, from where it first seems to have descended from the southern region toward the north as far as Meroe. Similarly, he says that the navigation from the Aromata to the lakes [alkus] from which the Nilum flows is toward the north; yet the Aromata are much more easterly than the Nilum. For Ptolemais of the Thebaid is more easterly than Meroe and more than the Nilum by a journey of ten or twelve days. Next, it is established that the narrower parts near the Ocecle Chersonesus and Dire are more easterly than Ptolemais and the Adulitic Gulf by three thousand five hundred stadia. Moreover, the promontory of Great Aromata is five hundred thousand stadia [likely an OCR or scribal error for a smaller figure] more easterly than those.

[Margin: I]
[Initial B]
What a certain man omitted concerning the boundaries of regions.
HE HIMSELF OMITTED certain things in reporting the boundaries of regions, such as when he terminates the whole of Mysia on the eastern side by the Pontic Sea; and Thracia on the west by Upper Mysia. Furthermore, at the north of Italia, there was not only Rhetia or Noricum, but Pannonia. He places the boundaries of Pannonia on the southern side to be Dalmatia only, omitting Italia. He also records that the inland Sogdianos and Sacas are conterminous with the Indians to the south. However, the two parallels which are more northerly than Mount Bymaus—which extends as far as possible toward the north—are described by him through Byzantium and the Hellespont, yet not through the aforementioned nations, but principally through the middle of the Pontus itself.

[Margin: C]
In which matters Marinus also disagrees with the histories of our time.
[Initial N]
Marinus did not correctly observe these and other matters of this kind, either on account of the multitude and separation of the volumes, or because, as he himself relates, he had not yet arrived at the final edition of his map [tabula] to be described, through which, as he says, he would have made the correction of the climates and the distances of the hours. Then, besides these, he posits certain things with which our knowledge of the times does not agree, such as what he reports concerning the Sachalitis gulf: that its situation is on the western part of the Syagrus promontory. All those, however, who navigate those places unanimously confess that it is on the western part of Syagrus, and they call the region Sachalitem of Arabia, and the gulf is named after it. He also reports that Semylla, the emporium of the Indians, is not only more western than the Camarrum promontory, but even than the Indus river; however, it is shown to be so far south of the mouth of the river itself by those who have sailed to it and most thoroughly explored those places, and by those who have arrived here from there.

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...and from those who have reached us from there. It is called Timula by the natives, from whom we have learned many other things concerning India and its provinces more particularly. Furthermore, we have gathered much concerning the interior, namely from this province as far as the Golden Chersonesum, and from here as far as Cattigara. We also know that the course of those crossing the sea to that place is toward the sunrise [east], and from there returning to the sunset [west]. They also report the time of navigation to be intractable and unfavorable; because beyond the Sinas is the region of the Serae and the metropolis of Sere. Then, those things which verge more toward the east are unknown, because they are held to be marshy lakes in which reeds grow so large and thick that a crossing is made by grasping them; because not only is there a path from there to Bactriana through the Stone Tower, but to the Indians through Palimbrocha. However, the way which is from the metropolis of the Sinae to the port of Cattigara looks toward the west and south. Therefore, it does not fall on the meridian drawn through the Serae and Cattigara, as is reported by Marinus, but in certain more easterly parts. We have also learned from merchants who sail from Arabia Felix to the Aromata and Azania and Rapta—all of which they call Barbaria—that this navigation is not properly toward the south, but toward the west and south; but the transit from the Rapta to Prasum is toward the sunrise and the south. Also, the lakes from which the Nilum flows are not near the sea itself, but further inland... [discussion of the distances from the shore of Aromata to the promontory of Rapta]... Furthermore, the navigation of a natural day in that place is not easily calculated to be of many stadia due to the change of winds which are under the equinoctial, but exists at about four hundred or five hundred stadia. There is a first continuous gulf at the Aromata, in which, after one day’s journey from the Aromata, is Panocone; and the emporium of Hopone is six days distant from Panocone. After that emporium, they say another gulf follows. There is the origin of Azame, at the beginning of which is the promontory of Zingis and Phalangi, notable for three heads; and they call only this gulf Apocopa, having a transit of two natural days. Then, after this, they say that what is called the Little Shore is received, and this is of three distances. After which is another which is called the Great Shore, of five distances, both of which are said to have a navigation of four natural days. They say another gulf is joined to these in which there is an emporium by the name of Essina, reached after a transit of two natural days. Afterward, the nautical station of Serapion at one day’s navigation; and from here he records a gulf begins which leads to Rapta, having a transit also of three natural days. And at the beginning of this, they say there is an emporium called Tonici. From there, near the promontory of Raptum, they record a river called Raptus, and a metropolis called by the same name, not far distant from the sea itself. Afterward, the gulf which extends from the Rapta to the promontory of Prasum; which, although it is very great, is nevertheless not of vast depth; the cannibal [antropophagi] barbarians dwell around it.

[Margin: C]
On the inconvenience which Marinus used in the designation of the world.
[Initial V]
IF according to the tradition of history any things worthy of memory have been treated thus far, let it not happen that we seem to some to have raised a difficulty and not at all resolved it. For all things will be known to us through the particular exposition of them. It remains that we should observe those things which pertain to the description of the earth itself. Therefore, since the form of this work is twofold—for since the first is that which places the surface of our habitable world upon a sphere, and then that which is noted on a plane—one thing is common to both, namely the ease of the work: that is, how even without a pictorial model, from commentaries alone, a description as accurate as possible may be made conveniently and skillfully on a table. For to establish new ones from late or prior models, having begun little by little through error, is accustomed to be led to the greatest dissimilarity. And thus the method which is grasped through commentaries perhaps does not suffice to establish a table for those who lack a model of the image.

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[Margin: I]
...it will become altogether impossible to obtain the desired result. This now happens to many in the work of Marinus. For maps are not placed from his last edition of the model, but they attempt to express it from the commentaries; and they are plainly deceived in many things on account of the unsuitable form and confusion of the work, as is permitted for any experienced person to see. For since from any of the noted places it is necessary to have the position of longitude as well as latitude, so that the places may be fixed where it is necessary, in the edition of Marinus that cannot be found immediately. For in one place he reports the latitude alone separately, as the matter required in the notation of the parallels; in another, only the longitudes, as in the description of the southern parts; and nothing of both can be had commonly together. Rather, in some places we find the parallels, in others the meridians placed, so that when one position is held, the other is lacking. But when we perform the business through commentaries, it becomes necessary to have the knowledge of both together... [critique of the lack of simultaneous coordinates]. Furthermore, in the position of cities, we shall describe more easily those which are situated on the shores, because a certain order is preserved in them. In the location of those which are within the continent, the same does not occur, since their site is very little noted together, except for a few...

[Margin: C]
On the convenience of our work in the designation of the world.
[Initial V]
WHENCE we undertake a double labor: first, that we may hold the intention of the man [Marinus] which he had throughout the whole work, except in those things which have obtained correction. Then, that those things which were not known to him—partly on account of not having knowledge of the history, partly on account of the order and diligence of the tables—may be described as congruously as possible. Furthermore, we have applied care concerning the more convenient use in all regions, establishing their limits, what particular sites they have in longitude and latitude. Then, concerning the nations of the regions themselves worthy of note, how they are located among themselves. Furthermore, concerning the more notable cities, rivers, boundaries, mountains, and all other things which could provide distances in the map itself worthy of any observation: that is, that the greatest circle is of degrees—three hundred and sixty—and the meridian described through a place is distant in longitude from the meridian which terminates the last boundary of the west [the Fortunate Isles]. According to latitude, however, it is the distance of the parallel described through the place itself from the equinoctial on the meridian itself. For thus by example we shall be able to know the position of any place particularly, and the sites of the regions themselves, in what way they are located among themselves in relation to the whole world.

[Margin: C]
On the inequality of the dimension of the table of Marinus.
[Initial V]
HOWEVER, each description has something proper to itself. For to note the world on a sphere takes the likeness of the figure itself, and does not require any artistic work for this. Nevertheless, a magnitude is not easily captured which can contain many places which must be located; nor can that work provide that the whole figure may be inspected at once... On a plane, however, none of these impediments is an obstacle. But the method which is required is that a likeness to the spherical image be maintained, lest the distances established in the plane keep less proportion; but that they be equated among themselves as much as possible on a flat surface, just as they are in the true one. Marinus, thinking this of no small importance, although he set up all modes of description on a plane, nevertheless he himself seems to have used that form of a table which made the dimensions most unequal. For the lines which are written for the circles of the parallels and meridians, he established all the meridians as straight...

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...inscribing them among themselves in the manner of right [parallel] lines. He preserved only the parallel of Rhodes as commensurable with the meridian, according to the ratio of almost an epitetartos [4:3] of similar spherical circumferences of a great circle to the parallel distant from the equinoctial by thirty-six degrees. Of others, however, he had no care, neither concerning the proportion of dimensions nor concerning the spherical aspect. For first, with the eye positioned in the middle of the northern fourth part of the sphere—in which the greater part of the habitable earth is described—the meridians can indeed have the fantasy of straight lines since any of them may be placed opposite us from the circulation... This, nevertheless, does not happen to the parallels on account of the elevation of the northern pole; but the parts of the circles clearly demonstrate that the curvatures are turned toward the meridian. Then, according to truth and fantasy: since the same meridians intercept similar but unequal circumferences in parallels differing in magnitude, and they are always larger as they approach more toward the equinoctial, Marinus himself makes them all equal. He extends the spaces of the climates more northerly than the parallel through Rhodes beyond what is fair, and diminishes others which are more southerly than it more than is right. From which it follows that the distances of places can by no means be adapted to the dimensions of stadia set forth by the same man, but those which are under the equinoctial are deficient by a fifth part, by as much as the parallel through Rhodes is smaller than the equinoctial. However, he increases the distances which are under the parallel through Tyle [Thule] by four-fifths; the fourth part of the parallels through Rhodes is greater than the parallel through Thyle. For almost any of the equinoctial degrees is one hundred and fifteen... the circle distant from the equinoctial by thirty-six degrees and described through Rhodes is ninety-three. The circle which is distant from the same equinoctial by sixty-three degrees and described through Thyle is fifty-two.

[Margin: C]
What things ought to be preserved for the designation of the world on a plane.
[Initial P]
THEREFORE, it will be well done to keep the lines which are placed for the meridians straight; but to write those which are noted for the parallels in arcs of circles having one and the same center, from which, as if from a northern pole placed beneath, the straight lines of the meridians are to be drawn; so that through the others a likeness may be preserved according to the form and aspect of the spherical surface. With the meridians then remaining without declination to the parallels, and also proceeding from the same common pole, although it is not possible to preserve the proportion which is in the sphere through all the parallels, it will be enough to hold it in the parallel through Thyle and in the equinoctial, so that the sides which embrace the latitude may be equated to the true and natural sides of the earth. It will be necessary to note the parallel through Rhodes, in which most proofs of the distances of longitude were made, according to the predicted proportion which Marinus reported: that is, according to the epitetartos of the circumference of a great circle to it; so that the longitude of our habitable world, which is better known, may be commensurable with its latitude. In what form and way these things shall be treated will be manifest hereafter, if we set forth the description itself as is required.

[Margin: C]
How our habitable world is to be designated on a sphere.
[Initial I]
THE magnitude of it [the sphere] the intention of the one establishing it will be able to discern according to the multitude of places to be designated, as facility and ambition extend. For by how much larger it is established, by so much will the description of places be more copious and more lofty. However large it may be, having assumed the poles of that sphere, we shall suspend a semicircle through them with diligence, distant by very little from the spherical surface, so that only in its circulation no friction occurs; let this semicircle be narrow, so that it does not occupy many places through latitude, and let it have one...

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[Margin: I]
...side extended directly through the points of the poles, so that we may be able to inscribe the meridians through it. Then, dividing the side into one hundred and eighty particles, we shall mark the numbers; from the middle section which intersects the equinoctial, we shall make the beginning of the numbers on both sides. Similarly, the equinoctial having been described, otherwise dividing its semicircle into similar one hundred and eighty particles, we shall make the beginning of the number in those placed individually from that last boundary through which we shall have the meridian of the extreme west. Then we shall begin the description from the notations of the degrees of longitude and latitude which are in the commentaries, and according to them we shall write each place individually on the sphere, the beginning having been found in the sections of the semicircles of the equinoctial and the movable meridian, as is premitted. Now indeed, transferring the noted degree of longitude—that is, to the section of the equinoctial which will contain the sought number—and taking the distance of latitude from the division of the meridian itself, we shall fix the place according to each noted number, just as stars are accustomed to be fixed on a solid sphere. Similarly, it will be permitted for us to inscribe the meridians through as many degrees of longitude as shall be pleasing to the one using it, by the line itself through the rule of the semicircle. Furthermore, it will be permitted to note the parallels through the distance of latitude, placing the instrument which will inscribe them at the proper distance which we shall seek in the number of the meridian; then we shall lead that as far as both meridians which intercept the whole habitable world.

[Margin: C]
Exposition of the meridians and parallels to be designated on the world.
[Initial N]
INDED, they will embrace twelve spaces of hours according to those things which follow from the held demonstration. The parallel which will terminate the southern region at the last will be written, distant as much toward the south from the equinoctial as the parallel through Meroe is distant from the same toward the north. It seemed fair to us, however, to write the meridians distant among themselves by a third part of one equinoctial hour: that is, by five particles of those which are marked in the equinoctial circle. The parallels more northerly than the equinoctial, we chose to note thus: so that the first parallel is distant from the same equinoctial, as geometric reasons bring in, by four degrees and almost a quarter part. We make the second differ from the equinoctial by half an hour and to be distant from the same by eight degrees and a third and a twelfth. The third, by half an hour and a quarter, distant by twelve degrees and a half. The fourth, by one hour, distant by sixteen degrees with a third and a twelfth; and this is described through Meroe. The fifth, to differ by one hour and a quarter, distant by twenty degrees and a quarter. The sixth, which is from the summer tropic, to differ by one hour and a half, distant by twenty-three degrees and a half and a third. The seventh, to differ by one hour and a half and a quarter, distant by twenty-seven degrees and a half with a sixth. The eighth, to differ by two hours, distant by thirty degrees with a third. The ninth, to differ by two hours with a quarter, distant by thirty-three degrees with a third. The tenth, to differ by two hours and a half, distant by thirty-six degrees; and this is described through Rhodes. The eleventh, to differ by two hours and a half with a quarter, distant by thirty-eight degrees and a half and a twelfth. The twelfth, to differ by three hours, distant by forty degrees and a half and a third and a twelfth. The thirteenth, to differ by three hours and a quarter, distant by forty-three degrees and a half. The fourteenth, to differ by three hours and a half, distant by forty-five degrees. The fifteenth, to differ by four hours, distant by forty-eight degrees and a half. The sixteenth, to differ by four hours and a half, distant by fifty-one [OCR error for 51] and a half degrees. The seventeenth, to differ by five hours, distant by fifty-four degrees. The eighteenth, to differ by five hours and a half, distant by fifty-six degrees. The nineteenth, to differ by six hours, distant by fifty-eight degrees. The twentieth, to differ by seven hours, distant by... [sixty-one degrees].

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...sixty-one. The twenty-first, to differ by eight hours, distant by sixty-three degrees; which is written through Thyle. Another will also be noted toward the south after the equinoctial containing a difference of half an hour, which is described through the Raptum promontory and Cattigara, almost distant from the equinoctial by equal distances as the opposite ones, by eight degrees with a third and a twelfth.

[Margin: C]
In what way the earth is designated on a plane.
[Initial M]
THE METHOD of writing the last parallels on a flat table and equating them to the true site will be such: We shall make a table of four right angles as ABCD; and let AB be almost double larger than AC, and let it be supposed that the side AB is located in the superior position, which will be the northern region. Then let us divide AB into equal parts and at right angles, and let that line be EF, to which we may adapt a rule equal and straight so that through the same middle line which is EF, that is, straightly through its length, the line grows as far as G... [technical instructions for drawing the projection follows]. And through the center G and through the point in its straight line which is distant from the center by seventy-nine parts, we shall describe a circle which may be held for the parallel through Rhodes as HKL. Concerning the longitude which will contain on each side of the center the space of six hours... [calculations for marking meridians at intervals of a third of an hour]. Then the parallel through Thyle will be noted on the line GF which is distant from the center G by fifty-two sections, as OPQ. The equinoctial indeed will be described distant from the center G by one hundred and fifteen parts, as RST. The parallel which is the last toward the south and opposite to the parallel through Meroe will be noted, distant from the center G by one hundred and thirty-one parts with a third and a twelfth, as MVN. The ratio is also collected: of the circumference RST to the circumference OPQ, is in the same proportion in which one hundred and fifteen are to fifty-two, according to the ratio of the parallels which are in the sphere... [further geometric proof of the projection].

[Image: Diagram of the projection with curved parallels.]

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[Margin: I]
...forty thousand stadia of latitude to seventy-two thousand stadia of longitude in the parallel through Rhodes; we shall write from the same center and through the points of the distances AG to S the remaining parallels as many as we wish. However, it will be permitted for us not to describe the lines which are assumed for the meridians as straight as far as MVN, but only as far as the equinoctial RST. Dividing the circumference MVN into ninety equal sections with the sections of the parallel through Meroe, with the number and measure it will be given to join to these the lines of the meridians which reach straight as far as the equinoctial, so that in a certain way the site which declines beyond the equinoctial may be seen, as RX and TY. It remains then for the easy knowledge of describing places: we construct therefore a narrow rule equal in length to the line GF or GS; we fix it only at the pole G so that when drawn through the whole length of the table, one of its sides may be most diligently adapted with the straight lines of the meridians... [instructions for using the rule and marking degrees of longitude and latitude to plot cities]. A designation of our habitable world on a plane can be made even more similar and equated if we assume the meridian lines by fantasy according to the norm of the meridian lines which are in the sphere, so that the axis itself of our sight in the position of the sphere passes through the section of the meridian which in our sight divides the longitude of our habitable world and through the section of the parallel which cuts its latitude. Furthermore, through the center of the sphere so that the equally opposite boundaries may be comprehended and appear.

[Initial P]
FIRST, however, it is necessary to constitute the quantity of the inclination of the parallel circles and the right angle of the noted section from the center of the sphere to the meridian, which as a middle plane divides the longitude... [geometric demonstration for the second projection follows]. Let the maximum circle terminating the hemisphere be ABCD. And let the semicircle of the meridian dividing the hemisphere be AEC. However, let the section which is to the sight, both of this and of the parallel dividing the latitude, be the point E... [further geometric variables: 23.5 degrees for the parallel through Syene, etc.].

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...three hundred and sixty. To the remaining angles under HGF: twenty-nine with a third [degrees]... therefore the ratio of GF to FH... [trigonometric calculations for the curvature of the arcs].

[Image: Two geometric diagrams of spheres and angles.]

...and with the point G, all parallels will be written thus in a flat table.

[Margin: C]
These things having been prefaced, let the table ABCD be placed twice as large...
...having AB as AC. EF should be directed to these, and let it be divided equal to EF into ninety-four parts of degrees. Therefore, having dismissed in FG sixteen with a third and a twelfth; and in GH twenty-three and a half with a third; and in GK sixty-three of the same degrees. And the equinoctial having been placed at point G, it will be that H is the circle through Syene, almost in the middle of the habitable earth; F indeed will be the parallel terminating the southern region and opposite to the circle through Meroe; K, however, will be the circle through which the northern site will be terminated, drawn through the island of Thyle... From the center L, through the distances F and H and K, we shall describe the circumferences... so that the longitude may be coequal to the latitude... we shall take the sections according to any of the three parallels which are equivalent to five degrees by a third part of one hour... from R indeed it will make sections of two degrees with a quarter... from N indeed by four and a half with a twelfth.

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[Margin: I]
From F however with four and a half with a third in those same [sections]. After these, writing through the three points the distances of the equipollent circumferences which will be for the remaining meridians, as terminating the whole longitude, namely STV and XYZ. We shall supply the circumferences for the other parallels from the center which is L through the parts noted in FK, according to their distances to the equinoctial itself. That this method is more similar to the sphere than the other clearly appears from here: since there, with the sphere remaining and not being turned—which happens to a table—it is necessary, when the sight is fixed in the middle of the designation, that one meridian, which is the middle one and falls under the axis of our sight, should provide the image of a straight line. The rest, however, which are on either side of it, all turn toward this one in their curvatures, and more so those which are more distant from it; which would be observed here with a decent proportion of curvatures. Furthermore, it is possible to have the coequation of the circumferences of the parallels among themselves, not only to the equinoctial and to the parallel through Thyle, as it is there by proper ratio, but also in others as much as is possible. [discussion of the superiority of this projection over the first, despite its greater difficulty to draw].

These things being thus held, it is more to be held here: that which is more equal and more serious is to be preferred to that which is weaker and easier. Both forms, however, are to be preserved, on account of those things which are more easily brought into the work.

[Margin: C]
As the equinoctial is five [parts], such is that through Meroe: four and a half with a third. Whence it has the ratio to it of thirty to twenty-nine.

[Margin: C]
As the equinoctial is five [parts], such is that through Syene: four and a half with a twelfth. Whence it has the ratio to it of sixty to fifty-five, that is, twelve to eleven.

[Margin: C]
As the equinoctial is five [parts], such is that through Rhodes: four. Whence it has to it the ratio of an epitetartos [4:3].

[Margin: C]
As the equinoctial is five [parts], through Thyle it is two with a quarter. Whence it has to it the ratio of twenty to nine.

[Image: Complex diagram of the second projection.]

[Margin: C]
The first book of the Cosmography of Claudius Ptolemy ends.

[Margin: C]
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COSMOGRAPHY OF CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY, MAN OF ALEXANDRIA, HAS THESE THINGS:

[Margin: C]
An exposition of the same treatise of the more western region of Europe according to these provinces or satrapies: Britannia, Hispania, Gallia, Germania, Rhetia, Vindelici, Noricum, Pannonia, Illyrici, and Dalmatia.

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[Margin: C]
HERE BEGINS THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COSMOGRAPHY OF PTOLEMY.

[Initial V]
WHAT things are required for a universal description of cosmography, and what its correction was according to the knowledge of more certain history concerning the world known to us—that is, concerning our habitable world—so that a proportion of the dimensions of places might be held; or what form might be preserved with as much likeness as possible; or what method should be assumed in describing; all has been pre-noted until now. Henceforth, however, it is necessary to begin to treat these things more particularly: proposing this, that the descriptions of the longitude and latitude of places at the same time, which have been more explored, are to be thought to lean most toward the truth on account of the continuous and commonly certain knowledge of the traditions. However, those places which have been less traveled, on account of the rare and uncertain knowledge of them, are not to be thought to be written so correctly, but according to the nearer vicinity of their sites and figures which have been more diligently handed down. This indeed we have decreed: so that for the complement of the description of our habitable world, they have no incomplete measure. Therefore we have noted the positions of the degrees in the outer spaces according to the accustomed form of the tables; however, first in the series of longitude, preferring the degrees of longitude to the degrees of latitude; so that if any corrections occur, from the more certain knowledge of histories it may be permitted to subjoin the things to be added in those spaces. Furthermore, in the description to be pursued, we have always had care of the easier way: that is, that we proceed to the right hand, leading from those things which have already been perfected to those which are not yet formed. This, however, can happen if the more northerly things are described before those which tend more to the south; and the more westerly things before those which verge more to the sunrise. For to the eyes of the one describing or treating this matter, the northern things are situated in a higher place, and the eastern things to the right: in the sphere likewise as in the table. Whence we shall first describe Europe and those things which are in it, dividing it and us from Africa by the Strait of Hercules; but from the other [Asia] after the seas which lie between and the Maeotian marsh [Sea of Azov]: by the river Tanais and the meridian which extends from this to the unknown land. Then we shall set forth Africa, also separating it from Asia after the seas which are received from the... [pronso] promontory of the Ethiopians as far as the Arabian Gulf; by the isthmus which from the city of Heroes—which is situated in the inner gulf—thrusting itself to our sea, separates Egypt from Arabia and Judea; so that we shall not split Egypt, placing the boundaries of Africa at the Nile. Furthermore, because it is better, when the faculty offers itself, to divide the continent by the sea rather than by the rivers themselves. Lastly, we shall describe Asia and what things are in it, with the same intent proposed according to each part of these three greatest [continents] which we had for the whole world: that is, that we repeat from higher up: so that first we describe the more northern and western region and the seas and islands nearest to them... We shall also cut these parts by the circumscription of satrapies or provinces, treating them as we promised before for the knowledge only of noting the places, with other things being altogether dismissed which are handed down by historians concerning the rites and customs of nations... This method will give to anyone wishing it the faculty of describing provinces particularly in different tables: one or more as the proportion of the tables among themselves with equal dimension and figures may be preserved according to the form and series already noted... This particular exposition is to be begun here.

[Initial H]
[Margin: 74]
The situation of the island of Ibernia [Ireland] of the Britons.
Description of the northern side, which is washed by the Hyperborean Ocean.