Abstract

The climata played an important role in Greek geography. As used in the mathematical geography of Hipparchus and Ptolemy the word denotes a narrow belt or strip of land, 400 stades wide, on each side of a parallel of latitude; inhabitants of the same clitma were assumed to be situated in the same geographical latitude, since, for practical purposes, the celestial phenomena, lengths of the longest and shortest days, and general climatic conditions did not change appreciably within this distance. We may compare the modern conception of arbitrary zones each possessing its own standard time; but whereas these are belts of longitude contiguous to each other, the climata were belts of latitude not necessarily contiguous