The Philosopher and the Father of Geography — Exploring the world maps of Anaximander and Hecataeus of Miletus

This article is the third in a series, parts <a href="https://medium.com/mapping-civilisation/mapping-classical-antiquity-29031058069f" rel="noopener">1</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/mapping-civilisation/mapping-antiquity-part-2-the-babylonian-world-map-d3866139d1ba" rel="noopener">2</a> set some context, but you do not need to have read them first to follow this one. Hecataeus the Milesian speaks thus: I write these things as they seem true to me; for the stories told by the Greeks are various and, in my opinion, absurd<a href="https://medium.com/mapping-civilisation/the-philosopher-and-the-father-of-geography-exploring-the-world-maps-of-anaximander-and-hecataeus-5828146d1f26#_ftn1" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">[1]</a> The above quote is one of the few fragments we have of the work of Hecataeus<a href="https://medium.com/mapping-civilisation/the-philosopher-and-the-father-of-geography-exploring-the-world-maps-of-anaximander-and-hecataeus-5828146d1f26#_ftn2" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">[2]</a> of Miletus, a Greek historian and geographer of the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, known as “The Father of Geography”. A native of Miletus, Hecataeus would produce the next significant step in the development of knowledge of the world in antiquity<a href="https://medium.com/mapping-civilisation/the-philosopher-and-the-father-of-geography-exploring-the-world-maps-of-anaximander-and-hecataeus-5828146d1f26#_ftn3" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">[3]</a> building, on the work of Anaximander<a href="https://medium.com/mapping-civilisation/the-philosopher-and-the-father-of-geography-exploring-the-world-maps-of-anaximander-and-hecataeus-5828146d1f26#_ftn4" rel="noopener ugc nofollow">[4]</a> another native of the city. <a href="https://medium.com/mapping-civilisation/the-philosopher-and-the-father-of-geography-exploring-the-world-maps-of-anaximander-and-hecataeus-5828146d1f26">Read More</a>