Re: Ancient Greece

["Daniel L. MacIsaac" <Dan.MacIsaac@nau.edu>]

....according to Carl Sagan in the COSMOS series, Aristothanes hired
someone to pace it out.  I wonder if he got a grant from the library of
Alexandria to pay for it?

Dan M

Dan MacIsaac, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Northern AZ Univ
danmac@nau.edu  http://www.phy.nau.edu/~danmac/homepage.html

> I hope this request is consistent with the purpose of this list.  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.)  I found that in
> the explaination the distance between two cities had to be known - I think the
> cities were Alexandria and Seyene.  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).   Thanks,  
> Frank