Author: Samantha Sink | Pages: 113–135 | DOI: 10.12775/EtudTrav.38.005
Abstract
In the Hellenistic world, landscapes were often tied to the borders of kingship. This paper challenges the prevailing geopolitical framework by showing that Eratosthenes defined the oikoumene not by shifting imperial frontiers, but through a mathematical conception of its outermost edges. It examines how his Geographika constructs a borderscape shaped by intellectual inquiry and mathematical precision, drawing on geographical evidence through textual analysis, empirical observation, and scientific reasoning. His engagement with mathematics moved his research beyond the Library of Alexandria into the natural world. This interplay reveals an alternative mode of boundary-making: one rooted in scientific inquiry. To examine these borderscapes, this study employs GIS to reconstruct Eratosthenes’ spatial framework, focusing on the southern connections between the Near East and North Africa to show how boundaries and landscapes were theorised in the Hellenistic world.
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