Editing Anaximander (section)

=== Cartography ===

[[File:Anaximander world map (mul).svg|thumb|right|280px|Possible rendering of Anaximander's world map<ref>According to John Mansley Robinson, ''An Introduction to Early Greek Philosophy'', Houghton and Mifflin, 1968.</ref>]]

Both [[Strabo]] and [[Agathemerus]] (later Greek geographers) claim that, according to the geographer [[Eratosthenes]], Anaximander was the first to publish a [[World map|map of the world]]. The map probably inspired the Greek historian [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] to draw a more accurate version. Strabo viewed both as the first geographers after [[Homer]].

Maps were produced in ancient times, also notably in [[Egypt]], [[Lydia]], the [[Middle East]], and [[Babylon]]. Only some small examples survived until today. The unique example of a world map comes from the late [[Babylonian Map of the World]] later than 9th century BC but is based probably on a much older map. These maps indicated directions, roads, towns, borders, and geological features. Anaximander's innovation was to represent the entire inhabited land known to the ancient Greeks.

Such an accomplishment is more significant than it at first appears. Anaximander most likely drew this map for three reasons.<ref>As established by Marcel Conche, ''Anaximandre. Fragments et témoignages'', introduction (p.&nbsp;43–47).</ref> First, it could be used to improve navigation and trade between [[Miletus]]'s colonies and other colonies around the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Second, [[Thales]] would probably have found it easier to convince the Ionian [[Polis|city-states]] to join in a federation in order to push the [[Medes|Median]] threat away if he possessed such a tool. Finally, the philosophical idea of a global representation of the world simply for the sake of knowledge was reason enough to design one.

Surely aware of the sea's convexity, he may have designed his map on a slightly rounded metal surface. The centre or "navel" of the world ({{lang|grc|ὀμφαλός γῆς}} ''omphalós gẽs'') could have been [[Delphi]], but is more likely in Anaximander's time to have been located near Miletus. The [[Aegean Sea]] was near the map's centre and enclosed by three continents, themselves located in the middle of the ocean and isolated like islands by sea and rivers. [[Europe]] was bordered on the south by the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and was separated from [[Asia]] by the Black Sea, the [[Sea of Azov|Lake Maeotis]], and, further east, either by the [[Rioni River|Phasis River]] (now called the [[Rioni]] in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]) or the [[Tanais]]. The [[Nile]] flowed south into the ocean, separating [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] (which was the name for the part of the then-known [[Africa]]n continent) from Asia.