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Roman Scandinavia - Primary Sources Martianus Capella [595] Finally, hemispherical
bowls which are called horologia, or sundials, are adjusted according
to variations in latitude. Gnomons are replaced at distances beyond five
hundred stadia, as the shadows are depressed or elevated according to
the location of the dials. Consequently, the longest day of the year at
Meroe lasts twelve and two thirds hours, at Alexandria fourteen, in Italy
fifteen, and in Britain seventeen. At the summer solstice, when the sun
is borne toward the celestial pole, it bathes the regions that lie beneath
in continuous daylight; but when it makes its wintry descent, it causes
northern regions to shiver in darkness that lasts six months. Pytheas
of Massilia reported that he found such a condition on the isle of Thule.
Those discrepancies of the seasons, unless I am mistaken, compel us to
admit that the earth is round. [608] But the two regions,
or belts, referred to above - one of which is covered with ice because
of its proximity to the chill of Plaustrum [the Wain], the other deserted
because of antarctic winds - do not have antipodes of their own. However,
because of their diametrically opposite locations, they become antipodal
to each other. Inhabitants here observe no risings of the celestial bodies,
except the planets, which do not course over their heads but have risings
near the middle of one side. Fixed stars are visible for six months, and
for six months they are out of sight. The equator is the circle that mark
risings for them, and only six signs of the zodiac are visible. Days and
nights are of six months' duration, and the poles are visible directly
overhead. But the one region, adorned with the luster of Septentrio, and
the other, with the star Canopus, have no acquaintance with the remaining
portions of the sky. [609] That most learned man Pytheas has disclosed
what conditions are like in those regions; but I myself have traversed
them: there is no portion of the earth's surface that is not known to
me.
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