Re: Ancient Greece

[Mathieu.Dubreuil@cyberscol.qc.ca (Mathieu Dubreuil)]

> > A student of mine asked me about the early measurement of distances
> > (the circumference of the earth, distance from the earth to the moon and
> > sun, etc.)
> > My question is - How did these people measure the distance between Alexandria
> > and Seyene?  I think the distance was said to be about 5000 stadia
> > (about 500 miles).

> "The road distance south to Syene (called Aswan today) that
> Eratosthenes used was almost certainly paced off by professionals for the
> Egyptian state who walked between all important places.

Those professional pacers were merchants that travelled in caravan. They
estimated the distance between the two cities by counting the number of
steps made by camels.


Mathieu Dubreuil
enseignant
chef de groupe en sciences de la nature
ecole secondaire Pointe-Claire
commission scolaire du Lakeshore
Pointe-Claire (Quebec) Canada
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Lecons de Physique Optique
http://CyberScol.qc.ca/Classes/Physique/P1/Accueil.html