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Map of the world
Anaximander is said to have made the first map of the
world. Although this map has been lost, we can imagine
what it must have looked like, because Herodotus,
who has seen such old maps, describes them. Anaximander's
map must have been circular, like the top of his
drum-shaped earth. The river Ocean surrounded it.
The Mediterranean Sea was in the middle of the map,
which was divided into two halves by a line that
ran through Delphi, the world's navel. The northern
half was called 'Europe', the southern half 'Asia'.
The habitable world (Greek: 'oikoumenê') consisted
of two relatively small strips of land to the north
and south of the Mediterranean Sea (containing Spain,
Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor on the one side, and
Egypt and Libya on the other side), together with
the lands to the east of the Mediterranean Sea: Palestine,
Assyria, Persia, and Arabia. The lands to the north
of this small 'habitable world' were the cold countries
where mythical people lived. The lands to the south
of it were the hot countries of the black burnt people.
Conclusion
It is no use trying to unify the information
on Anaximander into one all-compassing
and consistent whole. His work will
always remain truncated, like the mutilated
and decapitated statue that has been
found at the market-place of Miletus
and that bears his name. Nevertheless,
by what we know of him, we may say
that he was one of the greatest minds
that ever lived. By speculating and
arguing about the 'Boundless' he was
the first metaphysician. By drawing
a map of the world he was the first
geographer. But above all, by boldly
speculating about the universe he broke
with the ancient image of the celestial
vault and became the discoverer of
the Western world-picture.
Bron:The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(www.iep.utm.edu)
Bron: Wikipedia, http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaximander
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