Agathodaemon (cartographer)
Encyclopedia
Agathodaemon was a native of Alexandria
, Egypt
. All that is known of him is that he was the designer of some maps to accompany Ptolemy
's Geographia
. Copies of these maps are found appended to several manuscripts of Ptolemy. One of these is at Vienna
, another at Venice
. At the end of each of these manuscripts is the following notice:
The Vienna manuscript of Ptolemy is one of the most beautiful extant. The maps attached to it, 27 in number, comprising 1 general map, 10 maps of Europe, 4 of Africa, and 12 of Asia, are colored, the water being green, the mountains red or dark yellow, and the land white. The climate
s, parallels, and the hours of the longest day, are marked on the East margin of the maps, and the meridian
s on the North and South.
We have no evidence as to when Agathodaemon lived, as the only notice preserved respecting him is that quoted above. He may be the same person as the 3rd century alchemist
Agathodaimon
. There was also a grammarian of the same name, to whom some extant letters of Isidore of Pelusium
are addressed in the 5th century. Some have thought him to be the Agathodaemon in question. Other writers, however, consider the delineator of the maps to have been a 2nd century contemporary of Ptolemy, who mentions certain maps or tables , which agree in number and arrangement with those of Agathodaemon in the manuscripts.
Various errors having in the course of time crept into the copies of the maps of Agathodaemon, Nicolaus Donis, a Benedictine
monk, who flourished about 1470 AD, restored and corrected them, substituting Latin for Greek names. His maps are appended to the Ebnerian manuscript of Ptolemy. They are the same in number and nearly the same in order with those of Agathodaemon.
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. All that is known of him is that he was the designer of some maps to accompany Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's Geographia
Geographia (Ptolemy)
The Geography is Ptolemy's main work besides the Almagest...
. Copies of these maps are found appended to several manuscripts of Ptolemy. One of these is at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, another at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. At the end of each of these manuscripts is the following notice:
Agathodaemon of Alexandria delineated the whole inhabited world according to the eight books on Geography of Claudius Ptolemeaus
The Vienna manuscript of Ptolemy is one of the most beautiful extant. The maps attached to it, 27 in number, comprising 1 general map, 10 maps of Europe, 4 of Africa, and 12 of Asia, are colored, the water being green, the mountains red or dark yellow, and the land white. The climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
s, parallels, and the hours of the longest day, are marked on the East margin of the maps, and the meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
s on the North and South.
We have no evidence as to when Agathodaemon lived, as the only notice preserved respecting him is that quoted above. He may be the same person as the 3rd century alchemist
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
Agathodaimon
Agathodaimon
Agathodaimon was an alchemist in late Roman Egypt, known only from fragments of medieval alchemical treatises, chiefly the Anepigraphos, which refer to works of his believed to be from the 3rd century...
. There was also a grammarian of the same name, to whom some extant letters of Isidore of Pelusium
Isidore of Pelusium
Isidore of Pelusium was born in Egypt to a prominent Alexandrian family. He became an ascetic, and moved to a mountain near the city of Pelusium, in the tradition of the Desert Fathers....
are addressed in the 5th century. Some have thought him to be the Agathodaemon in question. Other writers, however, consider the delineator of the maps to have been a 2nd century contemporary of Ptolemy, who mentions certain maps or tables , which agree in number and arrangement with those of Agathodaemon in the manuscripts.
Various errors having in the course of time crept into the copies of the maps of Agathodaemon, Nicolaus Donis, a Benedictine
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...
monk, who flourished about 1470 AD, restored and corrected them, substituting Latin for Greek names. His maps are appended to the Ebnerian manuscript of Ptolemy. They are the same in number and nearly the same in order with those of Agathodaemon.