“The Moon and the Map in the Ancient World”

Karen ní Mheallaigh, Johns Hopkins University

In this presentation, I explore the history of the Moon and mapping in the ancient world in two distinct senses: (1) the ancient history of lunar cartography – that is, to show how attempts to isolate, interpret, name and represent features of lunar topography can be traced in ancient Greek thought as early as the sixth century BCE; and (2) more generally, the Moon’s entanglement in, and formative influence on, the cartographic tradition in the ancient world.