Chapters
In ancient times, the inhabitants of a given country (city) considered their land to be the centre of the world, having the form of a flat disk. Moreover, according to them, the ends of the world were inhabited by mysterious beings and barbarians who were a threat to the civilized world.
In Mesopotamia, the earth was shown in the shape of a circle, which was surrounded by an ocean full of islands with amazing wonders and wonders. According to the Babylonians, Babylon was the centre of the universe – the so-called itsiggurat. Egyptians, Phoenicians, Hittites and Jews had similar views on the image of the world. Everyone believed that they were in the centre of the world and that the ends of the disk were inhabited by unknown beings.
In Greek myths, Heracles met Amazons, Hesperides or the monster Gerion at the end of the world. The famous Delphi was supposed to be in the place where two eagles released by Zeus from two ends of the world met. To commemorate this fact, a monument omphalos(“navel”), in the shape of a semicircular stone, was erected.
The Greeks also introduced a division into the civilized and barbaric worlds. Originally the word barbaros meant “chatter” or “chatterbox” which was used to describe a person who did not speak Greek. After defeating the Persians in the war in 492-479 BCE, this expression took on a negative tone. The barbarians have gotten worse than the civilized Greeks.
By the end of the 6th century BCE, the world had already taken shape, according to the Greeks. Greece was in the center of the world, surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea (with large islands such as Sicily, Italy and Cyprus); This sea, in turn, was surrounded by three continents, which in turn were encircled by the great Ocean. The ocean was inhabited by bizarre creatures and monsters; the shores of continents, in turn, are the lands where the barbarians lived.
The Greeks understood the schematic nature of their vision of the world, and from the 5th century on, they gradually refined the world map. They did it mainly due to the conquests of Alexander the Great, thanks to which geographic knowledge was expanded. Nevertheless, the pejorative view of other nations and peoples was still present. This idea was later adopted by the ancient Romans.
Below are some visions of the world according to ancient geographers and scientists and their descriptions.
Anaximander of Miletus
Anaximander (c. 610 – c. 546 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and scientist. According to Strabo’s message, he was the creator of the first world map. It is suspected that the main reason for the map was to improve navigation and trade between the Miletus colonies and other centres in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The map was distinguished by three continents, two seas and two major rivers that reached the ocean besieging the world. The Aegean Sea was the centre of the world.
