Marinus de Tyr

See also: Marinus

Marinus (or Sailor) of Tyr was born towards the end from the 1st century and deceased at the beginning of the 2nd century. Of origin phenician but Romain by the course of the History, this Astronomer and Geographer - which one knows work only thanks to the mentions of Claude Ptolémée (90 - 168) which analyzed it and was inspired some - resumed work of Poseidonios d' Apamée (135 - 50 AV J. - C.) and of its predecessors.

Sailor drew up a chart commented on, while choosing a groundwork inspired by that of Hipparque de Nicée (190 - 125 AV J. - C.). He chooses like Méridien origin that of the Fortunate Islands (i.e. the the Canaries), but he traced a network of Méridien S and parallel S equidistant forming of the rectangles giving a correct projection to the level of the parallel of 36°, which is that of the island of Rhodes and around whose the whole of the known emerged grounds is articulated then, energy of the Atlantic coast to the China. This unit is called “œkoumene”. This type of chart, which appeared very practical, was adopted by the marine S and announced the Projection of Mercator, appeared fourteen centuries later.

Unfortunately, Marinus did not leave it there. Indeed, after having inconsiderately accepted the too small value of Posidonius (instead of that, much better, of Ératosthène) for the length of the Earth's circumference, it also will call in question that of œkoumene. It estimated that the inhabited grounds, of the Spain to the China, were to be spread out over 225° (instead of the real 130°). Work of Marinus thus provided grounds too much large on a sphere too much small (approximately 30.000 kilometers of circumference instead of 40.000 kilometers actually).

Christophe Colomb was based, partly, on the estimates of Sailor of Tyr.

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