2019-20 Academic Catalog

From the beginnings of their civilization, the Greeks were aware that they inhabited just a small corner of a much larger world. How did they imagine faraway places and peoples? What did ancient maps look like? How much have Greek literature and science shaped later geographical thought and practice, from the Roman Empire to the European “Age of Exploration” to our own “Age of Google”? Can we use ancient methods to measure the world? Drawing on various sources in translation, we will explore the literary and scientific frontiers of ancient geography and trace its legacy into the modern world.