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Eratosthenes created a whole section devoted to the examination of Homer, and acquired original works of great tragic dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. [6] Eratosthenes made several important contributions to mathematics and science, and was a friend of Archimedes. Around 255 BC, he invented the armillary sphere.
However, Eratosthenes (c. 276 – c. 194/195 BC) was the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth. Posidonius ( c. 135 – c. 51 BC ) also measured the diameters and distances of the Sun and the Moon as well as the Earth's diameter; his measurement of the diameter of the Sun was more accurate than Aristarchus', differing from ...
Eratosthenes (c. 276–194 BC) Scymnus (fl. 180s BC) Hipparchus (c. 190–120 BC) Agatharchides (2nd century BC) Posidonius (c. 135–51 BC) Pseudo-Scymnus (c. 90 BC) Diodorus Siculus (c. 90–30 BC) Alexander Polyhistor (1st century BC) Roman Empire period 15th century reconstruction of Ptolemy's map. Periplus of the Erythraean Sea; Strabo (63 ...
Eratosthenes calculated the Earth's circumference with great precision. [14] Since the distance from the Atlantic to India was roughly known, this raised the important question of what was in the vast region east of Asia and to the west of Europe.
Eratosthenes of Athens (Ancient Greek: Ἐρατοσθένης) was one of the Thirty Tyrants elected to rule the city of Athens after the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC). Having lost the war to the Spartans , the citizens of Athens elected thirty men as oligarchs .
The belief was widespread in the Greek world when Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of Earth around 240 BC. This knowledge spread with Greek influence such that during the Early Middle Ages (c. 600 – 1000 AD), most European and Middle Eastern scholars espoused Earth's sphericity. [3]
The angle between the sunbeam and a gnomon (vertical pole) at Alexandria allowed Eratosthenes to estimate Earth's circumference. Under the assumption that the Sun is very far away, the ancient Greek geographer Eratosthenes performed an experiment using the differences in the observed angle of the Sun from two different locations to calculate ...
Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth with great accuracy (see also: history of geodesy). [38] Greek geometrical astronomy developed away from the model of concentric spheres to employ more complex models in which an eccentric circle would carry around a smaller circle, called an epicycle which in turn carried around a planet.