Dionysius PeriegetesOrbis terrae descriptio |
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Introduction |
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fl. c.300? B.C., Greek poet. He wrote the poem Description of the Inhabited Earth, which was popular in antiquity. Dionysius of Alexandria, called Periegetes (the Guide), was a contemporary of the great Hellenistic geographers Marinus of Tyre (ca. 70 - 130 AD) and Claudius Ptolemy (ca 90 – ca 168AD). He composed a description in verse of the inhabited world (AD 124) that was long used as a school textbook. Dionysius, a Greek author of the time of Hadrian (76–138AD), is commonly known as Periegetes (the Guide), to distinguish him from other authors of the same name and refers to his work Orbis terrae descriptio, called De situ habitabilis orbis ("Descriptive Account of the Habitable World"). Designed more as a geographical handbook for a reader of the Greek poets than as a systematic or scientific treatise on geography, De situ habitabilis orbis undertakes a verse account of the known world and its seas, countries, and islands. The 1543 Aldine edition of De situ habitabilis orbis was translated into Latin verse by Simon Lemnius, who in his dedicatory preface mentions both Amerigo Vespucci and Columbus and the discovery of America. The title page of this work has a view of the earth which shows South America, labeled "America." Franciscus, mentioned in the colophon, is Francesco Torresani, the uncle of Paulus Manutius. |