Marinus of Tyre Essay

The life of Marinus of Tyre offers a wonderful example of how little can be known about a person who was able to make such a significant impact on a particular field of science. Indeed, while many are familiar with the results of his work, few people are able to acknowledge this scholar. This paper will provide an overview of life and accomplishments of Marinus of Tyre.

This outstanding cartographer was born in Tyre which was located in the Roman province of Syria. Since little is known about his life, the time of birth is debated, but is often stated that he was born closer to the end of the first century. It is worth pointing out that the major source of information about Marinus is Geography of Ptolemy (Nicolai 47). The latter acknowledges that he took a lot from works of the former. In addition to that, an Arabic scholar by the name of al-Masudi also references works of Marinus. Other than that, there are no other written records regarding his life of work.

It is worth pointing out that Marinus of Tyre was not only a cartographer, he also was a mathematician. That is why his particular interest lied in the field of constructing maps. It is suggested that he laid the foundation of mathematical geography and shaped the development of nautical maps (Monmonier 28).

Nevertheless, there is one particular contribution that Marinus of Tyre should be praised for: he was the first person to develop the notion of latitude and longitude and made it a requirement that each object on a map should be traced based on the coordinates. Obviously, he used a completely different set of coordinates that he invested himself. For zero meridian he used the latitude of the Isles of the Blessed and the equator was based on the longitude of Rhodos (Irby-Massie 826). By far, this was a tremendous breakthrough in the art of constructing maps of the time.

Another significant accomplishment that should be mentioned is that Marinus of Tyre tried to estimate the length of the equator of the Earth. According to his calculations, it was 180,000 stadia. In spite of the fact that this length is impressive, the cartographer was not accurate: this number is 17% smaller that the actual length of the equator (Roy 290).

Moreover, there are several other accomplishments that Marinus should be praised for. For example, he was the first ancient cartographer who included China in the world maps (Garfield 56). Clearly, this represented the breadth of his perspective on the way in which maps should depict the world. Furthermore, Marinus was the person who invented equirectangular projection which is the kind of projection that is widely used in many modern maps. Finally, it was he who coined the term Antarctica.

However, one should also keep in mind that there were several flaws in the cartographic outlook of Marinus. Other than making not accurate calculations of the equator, he also had a very simplistic perception of the globe. Thus, according to him, there was Ocean that was divided into two parts by Europe, Asia, and Africa. One might speculate that his calculations may have been correct if he had known of the Americas.

Having examined all the evidence, it becomes obvious that Marinus of Tyre was a great cartographer who had a significant impact on this field of knowledge. It was he who introduced the notion of latitude and longitude, made nautical maps more accurate. Moreover, his equirectangular projection is used in many modern maps. What is really remarkable is that despite his many accomplishments, there is little information about this talented man.


Works Cited

Garfield, Simon. On the map: why the world looks the way it does. New York, NY: Tindal Street Press, 2013. Print.

Irby-Massie, Georgia L. A companion to science, technology, and medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2016. Print.

Monmonier, Mark. Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: a Social History of the Mercator Projection. Chicago, IL: U of Chicago Press, 2010. Print.

Nicolai, Roel. The enigma of the origin of portolan charts: a geodetic analysis of the hypothesis of a medieval origin. Leiden: Brill, 2016. Print.

Roy, David Le. The ruins of the most beautiful monuments of Greece. Los Angeles, LA: Getty Research Institute, 2004. Print.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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