From Library Journal
For the ancient Greeks and Romans, geography was as much a form of narrative fiction as a scientific description of terrains or peoples. In an interesting, suggestive, and thoroughly documented study, Romm (classics, Bard Coll.) traces the development of geography from early accounts in Homer and Herodotus through the various texts emerging from the conquests of Alexander the Great, such as those by Strabo and Pliny, to the Romans. He explores the symbolic landscapes, realms of wonders, and other literary conventions that formed the backdrop for these texts. He also looks at the perceptions of other ancient peoples, from the Ethiopians in the South and Hyperboreans in the North to the Indians in the East. A handy, readable, and valuable contribution. For educated readers.- T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
Romm's incisive and brilliant analysis of Greco-Roman ideas of earth's geography is grounded in a linguistic interpretation of Greek conceptions of space and boundary. . . . His work captures the imagination as few others have and will provide material for the study of the classical legacy in the shaping of the modern scientific mind for many years to come.


Book Description
For the Greeks and Romans the earth's farthest perimeter was a realm radically different from what they perceived as central and human. The alien qualities of these "edges of the earth" became the basis of a literary tradition that endured throughout antiquity and into the Renaissance, despite the growing challenges of emerging scientific perspectives. Here James Romm surveys this tradition, revealing that the Greeks, and to a somewhat lesser extent the Romans, saw geography not as a branch of physical science but as an important literary genre.


From the Back Cover
"This work is unparalleled in its scope and perspective."--Deborah Boedeker, College of the Holy Cross

FROM THE PUBLISHER

For the Greeks and Romans the earth's farthest perimeter was a realm radically different from what they perceived as central and human. The alien qualities of these "edges of the earth" became the basis of a literary tradition that endured throughout antiquity and into the Renaissance, despite the growing challenges of emerging scientific perspectives. Here James Romm surveys this tradition, revealing that the Greeks, and to a somewhat lesser extent the Romans, saw geography not as a branch of physical science but as an important literary genre.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal