Problems of Historical Geography in the Works of Ancient and Medieval Authors

Abstract. By conceiving the discussion as part of a specific thematic issue (“Geography”), the editors set out to form questions that would reveal the geographical views of a particular author and his era. The questions raised can be divided into several groups: text and map, the specifics of displaying geographical representations in the genre of the work, the problem of geography and power, “common places” and omissions in
geographical texts, sacred and profane in space. The range of issues covered is very wide, but when forming the questionnaire, the editors’ task was to show the heuristic potential of geographical issues in the study of the works of ancient and medieval authors.
As a result, the participants of the discussion touched upon a number of issues, but not all of them. In the materials of the presented discussion, various aspects of the relationship between the authors of geographical works and the authorities are highlighted; the influence of the genre nature of the work on its content and on its subsequent popularity is shown; the question is raised about the reasons for the omission of geographical objects in the work. The reader can see how productive and inspiring a political order can be; get acquainted with different approaches to the material; evaluate the combination of scientific and artistic in a particular work. The editors of the issue hope that the reader
will be attracted not only by the texts that were discussed, but also by the questions and the identified range of problems that still await their researcher.

Keywords: historical geography, Strabo, al-Idrisi, Dionysius Perieget, Ottoman chronicles, images of space.