Nephele Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Does anyone here know of an online source that provides the names of towns and cities of the ancient world -- either still in existence as modern-day cities, or no longer in existence -- when you type in the latitude as a search? I'm asking, because for my latest, time-consuming, pointless pursuit of amusement I thought it would pretty neat to try to find out which ancient sites in the Roman world might correspond directly with where I live right now, by tracing the line of latitude. In other words, if I were to be somehow transported through space and time, but only along the same latitude line upon which I currently stand, in which towns or cities of the ancient Roman world might I find myself? (These are the towns I figure I would rightfully "own" in my little game, heheh.) My latitude is 40', 52" (which I already know is just a degree below Rome itself). Anyone else here weird enough to be amused by stuff like this? Oh, just thought of this -- does the wonderful UNRV map that's for sale through this site provide latitude and longitude? I've been planning to purchase one, anyway. -- Nephele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Bill Thayer's Roman Atlas contains latitudes and longitudes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted April 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Bill Thayer's Roman Atlas contains latitudes and longitudes. Ah! Thanks! But... while I see the lines for latitude and longitude drawn on these maps, I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Nephele, have you played with Google Earth? You could sort of do it that way. EDIT: Here are some in the ballpark... Conimbriga - Lusitania (north bank of the Munda river in antiquity, near modern Ovar? in Portugal) Oleastrum - Hispania (coast between Dertosa{Tertosa} & Tarraco{Tarragona}) Erycinum - Sardinia (perhaps in the ballpark of the modern Sedini or Tempio Pausania? North central tip-ish on the island) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Nephele, have you played with Google Earth? You could sort of do it that way. Right--plus, you can download map pins for ancient sites. I have them for Rome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Looking at the rough Latitude where I grew up (35,05), I see that in the Med, it would land me just south of modern Chebba in Tunisia which is a bit down the coast from the ancient town of Thapsis (i.e. were Caesar defeated Scipio), -or- middle of Crete, -or- middle of Cyprus -or- northern Phoenicia some kilometers south of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted April 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Looking at the rough Latitude where I grew up (35,05), I see that in the Med, it would land me just south of modern Chebba in Tunisia which is a bit down the coast from the ancient town of Thapsis (i.e. were Caesar defeated Scipio), middle of Crete, middle of Cyprus or northern Phoenicia some kilometers south of Urgarit (modern Ras Shamra) What fun! I haven't tried Google Earth, though, as I never downloaded and installed it on my computer. I'm suspicious of Google. -- Nephele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryaxis Hecatee Posted April 11, 2007 Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 Isn't it Claudius Ptolemaeus who, in his geographical work, gives a latitude for the town he mentions in his book ? While he is not always correct you could get an idea throug him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted April 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 Isn't it Claudius Ptolemaeus who, in his geographical work, gives a latitude for the town he mentions in his book ? While he is not always correct you could get an idea throug him. Thanks for the suggestion, B.H.! I did notice from that Atlas link that MPC gave, that the indexed maps include Ptolemy's coordinates. If there are any techno folk reading this, what a great website you might be able to create if you could work out a way for someone to type in latitude and/or longitude coordinates and pull up ancient towns and cities for their results. I still can't seem to find anything like that on the 'net, so perhaps it would be a fairly unique thing to create. -- Nephele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Caelius Posted April 11, 2007 Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 If there are any techno folk reading this, what a great website you might be able to create if you could work out a way for someone to type in latitude and/or longitude coordinates and pull up ancient towns and cities for their results. I still can't seem to find anything like that on the 'net, so perhaps it would be a fairly unique thing to create. I dunno. Seems like it would have fairly limited utility. Wouldn't it be more practical to just get a map of the area of interest from National Geographic and trace the latitude you're interested in? Come to think of it, why would you want to look up ancient towns and cities by latitude? I mean, other than curiosity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted April 11, 2007 Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 What fun! I haven't tried Google Earth, though, as I never downloaded and installed it on my computer. I'm suspicious of Google. Por Que? Forget the suspicion, for someone with your curiosities Nephele, I can see you playing with Google Earth for hours... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted April 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 What fun! I haven't tried Google Earth, though, as I never downloaded and installed it on my computer. I'm suspicious of Google. Por Que? I'm always afraid that commerical sites such as Google are going to trace me back to my e-mail somehow if I download anything from them, and then spam the heck out of me. I still regret ever signing up for eBay and PayPal. My old e-mail account is a mess of phishing attempts, thanks to those sites (probably eBay, mostly). Forget the suspicion, for someone with your curiosities Nephele, I can see you playing with Google Earth for hours... You bet! Stuff like that is to me what a shiny bauble is to a raven. *Nephele stares, hypnotized, and goes "Ooo!"* Hey, Pantagathus, thanks for that Bookfinder.com link in your previous posting! I've bookmarked it! -- Nephele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted April 11, 2007 Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 Hey, Pantagathus, thanks for that Bookfinder.com link in your previous posting! I've bookmarked it! You are most welcome ^_^ Their search engine captures everything, even books that Amazon may have listed but not display for some reason. It really is a valuable resource when trying to build a decent collection & bibliography on somewhat obscure subjects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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