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Measuring the Earth, Classical and Arabic
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Poseidonius measures the Earth c. 100 bc. Medieval Arabic method of measuring the Earth.
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Poseidonius measures the Earth c. 100 bc.
Poseidonius measures the Earth c. 100 bc.

Measuring the Earth, Classical and Arabic

Written by
J.L. Heilbron
Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, England. Author of Geometry Civilized and The Sun in the Church among others.
J.L. Heilbron
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

In addition to the attempts of Eratosthenes of Cyrene (c. 276–c. 194 bc) to measure the Earth, two other early attempts had a lasting historical impact, since they provided values that Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) exploited in selling his project to reach Asia by traveling west from Europe. One was devised by the Greek philosopher Poseidonius (c. 135–c. 51 bc), the teacher of the great Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 bc). According to Poseidonius, when...

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