Anaximander’s Map of The Known World (c. 610 — 546 BCE)
Anaximander was a Greek philosopher who did his thing around the 6th century BCE. He is credited with creating one of the earliest known maps of the (known) world. For its time a groundbreaking work. And even though it’s been lost to time, it has left its indelible mark on the history of geography, cartography and scientific thought.
Source: Cartographic Images
Born in Miletus (referenced in the Heroes of Bronze map), an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, Anaximander was a student of Thales and a pioneer in various fields like astronomy, geography, and cartography. His map, created around 550 BCE, represented a great step forward in how humans conceptualized and depicted the world around them.
Back in the day, maps were often mythological or symbolic. In turn, Anaximander’s work attempted to capture the known world in geographical and rational manner. The map was circular, reflecting the Greek belief that the Earth was cylindrical in shape, like a column drum.
At the center of Anaximander's map lay Greece, surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. The known lands were divided into three continents: Europe, Asia, and Libya (Africa). These landmasses were depicted as balanced regions around the Mediterranean, which Anaximander saw as the central feature of the world.
The outer edges of the map were bounded by a great ocean, beyond which lay the unknown. This concept of an encircling ocean persisted in Western cartography for centuries. Anaximander's map also included major rivers known to the Greeks, such as the Nile in Egypt and the Danube in Europe.
While primitive by modern standards, Anaximander's map was a big step in the development of cartography. It moved away from purely mythological representations and towards a more scientific approach to understanding and depicting the world. This shift laid the groundwork for future advancements in geography and map-making.
The influence of Anaximander's work extended far beyond his lifetime. His ideas about the shape and structure of the world influenced later Greek thinkers and geographers, including Hecataeus of Miletus, who further developed the concept of a world map.
Today, while we don't have the original map, descriptions from ancient sources allow us to appreciate Anaximander's contribution to our understanding of the world. His work stands as a testament to the power of human curiosity and the enduring quest to make sense of our place in the universe.
