Dante and the early astronomers . ocean which surrounds all the land. At theopposite or western extremity are the Pillars of Her-cules, which two angels appear to be guarding. Inthe centre, but not so exactly or conspicuously centralas in some other maps, we find Hierusalem. Alongthe south is the long narrow continent of Africa, withthe Atlas and Ethiopian mountains; and the Nile,rising far in the south-west, after mysterious sub-mergences and reappearances, finally flows into theMediterranean, past the pictured Pyramids, herestrangely called (according to Dark-Age myth) theBarns of Joseph. In
Dante and the early astronomers . ocean which surrounds all the land. At theopposite or western extremity are the Pillars of Her-cules, which two angels appear to be guarding. Inthe centre, but not so exactly or conspicuously centralas in some other maps, we find Hierusalem. Alongthe south is the long narrow continent of Africa, withthe Atlas and Ethiopian mountains; and the Nile,rising far in the south-west, after mysterious sub-mergences and reappearances, finally flows into theMediterranean, past the pictured Pyramids, herestrangely called (according to Dark-Age myth) theBarns of Joseph. In the north another Angel points tothe country where dwell the Gog-Magogs, and not farofi are the lands of the Hyperboreans, here described asuntroubled by disease or discord, of the most wickedGryphons, and of the Dog-headed folk, adjoining theArctic Ocean. Italy is a very large country, roughly triangular,and in the Mediterranean to the south lie Sicily, thewhirlpool Charybdis, the rock Scylla, Sardinia, Corsica, F^^ 1 >?:. f^^ MAP OF THE WORLD BY HEINRICH OF MAINZ, ABOUT by permission from, Beazleys Dawn of Modern Geography. [ To face p. 3UU. CELESTIAL PHENOMENA AND TIME. 345 and other islands. Rome is figured as a battlementedcity, about halfway between Jerusalem and the Pillarsof Hercules. This is where Dante also places the imperial city,for in his system it is about 45°, or 3 hours, east ofGades and west of Jerusalem. He tells us in oneplace that it was vespers in Naples when the sun rosein Purgatory,^ and in another that when it was vespersor three oclock in the afternoon in Purgatory, it wasmidnight here ^ which may mean Florence or Italyin sreneral; both these statements indicate a differenceof nine hours or 135° between Italy and in the Divine Comedy is exactly antipodalto Jerusalem, and therefore twelve hours distant intime ; ^ and for the sake of his allegory Dante has sofar departed from tradition as to place the Ear
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