Klimata (Latitudinal Zones)
The system that sliced the earth into east–west bands by latitude, each marked by the angle of the sun and the length of its longest day.
A klima (plural klimata) was a latitudinal belt of the earth defined by the sun's angle — measured by the length of the longest day or the noon shadow — so any place could be pinned down by which band it fell in. Early Greek thought split the globe into five broad zones, two frigid, two temperate, and one torrid, an idea linked to Parmenides and Aristotle. The precise, calculated klimata that working geographers used were developed by Eratosthenes and especially Hipparchus (3rd–2nd century BCE), then systematized by Ptolemy. This framework underpinned ancient mapmaking and the long debate over which latitudes could be lived in.
How it traveled
- De aere, aquis, locisKos · -370explains
- Geographiae ChrestomathiaAmaseia · 24explains
- Apotelesmatica (= Tetrabiblos)Alexandriaexplains
- Naturalis HistoriaRomeexplains
- Syntaxis mathematicaAlexandriaexplains
- Anonymi summaria ratio geographiae in sphaera intelligendae—explains
- Scholia in Dionysii Byzantii per Bosporum navigationem (scholia vetera)—explains
- De utilitate mathematicaeSmyrnaexplains
- Geographiae expositio compendiaria—explains
- Paraphrases in Dioynsium Periegetam—explains
Key passages(20)
Fragments & Testimonia · Eratosthenes of Cyrene
Anonymi summaria ratio geographiae in sphaera intelligendae · Anonymi summaria ratio geographiae in sphaera intelligendae
Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus
Syntaxis mathematica · Claudius Ptolemaeus
Apotelesmatica (= Tetrabiblos) · Claudius Ptolemaeus
Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae) · Heraclitus the Allegorist (Homericus)
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Geographiae Chrestomathia · Anonymous
Geographiae Chrestomathia · Anonymous
Geographiae expositio compendiaria · Anonymi Geographiae Expositio Compendiaria
Anonymi summaria ratio geographiae in sphaera intelligendae · Anonymi summaria ratio geographiae in sphaera intelligendae
Anonymi summaria ratio geographiae in sphaera intelligendae · Anonymi summaria ratio geographiae in sphaera intelligendae
Apotelesmatica (= Tetrabiblos) · Claudius Ptolemaeus
Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus
Paraphrases in Dioynsium Periegetam · Paraphrases in Dioynsium Periegetam
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Scholia in Dionysii Byzantii per Bosporum navigationem (scholia vetera) · Scholia in Dionysium Periegetam
De utilitate mathematicae · Theon Smyrnaeus
Anonymi summaria ratio geographiae in sphaera intelligendae · Anonymi summaria ratio geographiae in sphaera intelligendae