World: Map of the World, Claudius Ptolemy (90 - 168 CE), from the 1492 edition of his <i>Cosmographia</i> (also known as the <i>Geographia</i>)

The Geography (Greek: __________ ________, Ge_graphik_ Hyph_g_sis, lit. 'Geographical Guidance'), also known by its Latin names as the Geographia and the Cosmographia, is a gazeteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, compiling the geographical knowledge of the 2nd-century Roman Empire. Originally written by Ptolemy in Greek at Alexandria around 150 CE, the work was a revision of a now-lost atlas by Marinus of Tyre using additional Roman and Persian gazetteers and new principles. Its translation into Arabic in the 9th century and Latin in 1406 was highly influential on the geographical knowledge and cartographic traditions of the medieval Caliphate and Renaissance Europe. (Photo by: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)