The exhibit "ROME REBORN: THE VATICAN LIBRARY & RENAISSANCE CULTURE" was put on by the Library of Congress in 1993. It included material from both the Library of Congress and the Vatican Library. http://sunsite.unc.edu/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/Main_Hall.html
Please browse through the site, reading what interests you most. I would like you to read the section "About the Exhibition" and also read the section on Ptolemy's geography, under mathematics. http://sunsite.unc.edu/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/d-mathematics
Answer the following questions: 1) When was Ptolemy's
Geography written? (note: you can always make use of reference material,
like the Encyclopedia Britannica online
http://www.eb.com:180/
to get more information). 2) When did it become widely
available to European scholars? 3) What impact did it
have?
Another interesting section of the exhibit deals with
Rome's dealings with
the Far East ("How Rome went to
China"). Please read through this section
carefully (and also "The Jesuits
in China") and answer these questions: 4)
why was Rome so interested in China, and 5) Why were
the Chinese elite
willing to entertain the Jesuits? What were they
interested in getting in
return?
Please limit your typed answers on a single page.
comments to Wilson or Lovata
Created 8/21/98, modified by SMW 8/21/98