Clime
Clim(at)e (more correctly klima or clima, plur. klimata and climata, from Greek κλίμα/κλίματα) is a concept of Greek geography referring to the angle between the axis of the celestial sphere and the horizon, and the terrestrial latitude characterized by this angle. In most cases, it can safely be translated as “latitude”. Normally, klimata were defined by the length of the longest daylight and associated with specific geographical locations. Different lists of klimata were in use in Hellenistic and Roman time. Claudius Ptolemy was the first ancient scientist known to have devised the so-called system of seven klimata (Almagest 2.12) which, due to his authority, became one of the canonical elements of late antique, medieval European and Arab geography.
Klimata should not be confused with climatic (in modern sense) zones. Traditionally, starting with Aristotle (Meteorology 2.5,362a32), the Earth was divided into five zones, assuming two frigid climes (the arctic and antarctic) around the poles, an uninhabitable torrid clime near the equator, and two temperate climes between the frigid and the torrid ones.
Read more about Clime: Ptolemy
Famous quotes containing the word clime:
“Father of all! in every age,
In every clime adored,
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an eidolon, named Night,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule—
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of space—out of time.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)