Note 591 — Chapter I

The following is a Resumé of the argument of Hipparchus, “The hypotenuse of the supposed triangle, or the line drawn from Babylon to the Caspian Gates being only 6700 stadia, would be necessarily shorter than either of the other sides, since the line from Babylon to the frontiers of Carmania is estimated by Eratosthenes at 9170, and that from the frontiers of Carmania to the Caspian Gates above 9000 stadia. The frontiers of Carmania would thus be east of the Caspian Gates, and Persia would consequently be comprised, not in the third, but in the second section of Eratosthenes, being east of the meridian of the Caspian Gates, which was the boundary of the two sections.” Strabo, in the text, points out the falsity of this argument.