Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 83

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It is likewise said, that in the town of Syene, which is 5000 stadia south of Alexandria508, there is no shadow at noon, on the day of the solstice; and that a well, which was sunk for the purpose of the experiment, is illuminated by the sun in every part. Hence it appears that the sun, in this place, is vertical, and Onesicritus informs us that this is the case, about the same time, in India, at the river Hypasis509. It is well known, that at Berenice, a city of the Troglodytæ, and 4820 stadia beyond that city, in the same country, at the town of Ptolemais, which was built on the Red Sea, when the elephant was first hunted, this same thing takes place for forty-five days before the solstice and for an equal length of time after it, and that during these ninety days the shadows are turned towards the south510. Again, at Meroë, an island in the Nile and the metropolis of the Æthiopians, which is 5000 stadia511 from Syene, there are no shadows at two periods of the year, viz. when the sun is in the 18th degree of Taurus and in the 14th of Leo512. The Oretes, a people of India, have a mountain named Maleus513, near which the shadows in summer fall towards the south and in winter towards the north. The seven stars of the Great Bear are visible there for fifteen nights only. In India also, in the celebrated sea-port Patale514, the sun rises to the right hand and the shadows fall towards the south. While Alexander was staying there it was observed, that the seven northern stars were seen only during the early part of the night515. Onesicritus, one of his generals, informs us in his work, that in those places in India where there are no shadows, the seven stars are not visible516; these places, he says, are called “Ascia517,” and the people there do not reckon the time by hours518.