PART I _Origins, Sources, and Place in the Classification of Knowledge of the Geographical Lore of the Time of the Crusades_ I THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 9 Sources 9 The Pythagoreans, Plato, and Aristotle 9 Roman Influence on Geography 10 Ptolemy 10 Latin Writers: Pliny, Solinus, Capella, Macrobius 11 The History of the Universe 12 Ancient Cosmogony 12 Celestial Influences 12 Cosmic Cycles: The Great Years 13 Geographic Application of the Theory of the Great Years 14 Duration of the Great Years 14 Shape, Movements, and Size of the Earth 15 Sphericity of the Earth 15 Immobility of the Earth 15 Circumference of the Earth 16 The Distribution of Habitable Regions; Zones; the Distribution of Land and Water 17 Zones 17 Crates’ Theory of Four Land Masses 18 Extent of the “Oikoumene” 19 Physical Geography 19 Aristotle, Seneca, and Pliny 19 The Four Elements 20 Meteorology 21 Winds 22 Climatology 23 The Water Element 24 The Sea: Its Salinity, Depth, Currents, and Tides 25 Subterranean Channels 27 Rivers of the Underworld 28 Origin of Rivers 29 The Nile Flood 30 The Lands 31 Earthquakes and Volcanoes 31 Height of Mountains 32 Mathematical Geography and Cartography 33 Mathematical Geography Largely Based on Itineraries 33