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In his extensive work, the Lunheng Wang Chong (27–ca. 102) repeatedly criticizes the views of certain literati. We consider the possibility that some of the views of both the literati and the critic go back to Greek scientific and philosophical traditions. Various statements in the Lunheng have clear analogies in Greek and Latin texts. For instance, to illustrate the contrary motion of the sun and moon relative to the fixed stars Wang Chong compares their movement to that of ants crawling on a rolling mill-stone. The same comparison appears in Vitruvius and a number of Greek writers. There was an early Greek theory of Air that knows everything everywhere; Wang Chong cites precisely the same idea in respect to qi, barely distinguishable from air in the context. Wang Chong knows the extravagant Chinese theory that involves seasonal rise and fall of the sun attached to heaven. However, if the sun is not attached to heaven the corresponding theory turns ingenious. Precisely such a version of the theory is attested for Anaximenes whose views display many links with the views that circulated in China. Moreover, Wang Chong holds the same basic cosmographic views as Anaximenes. Wang Chong has a correct idea of the distance between the observer and the horizon, but this normally requires knowledge of the radius of the spherical earth, which suggests the Greek origin of the numerical data available to Wang Chong.
Translated title of the contributionКосмография и космология Ван Чуна в свете греческих и латинских параллелей
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)844-869
Number of pages26
JournalSCHOLE. ФИЛОСОФСКОЕ АНТИКОВЕДЕНИЕ И КЛАССИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ
Volume19
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2025

    Research areas

  • Dicaearchus, Eratosthenes, Wang Chong, ancient Chinese philosophy, ancient Greek astronomy and cosmology, ancient linear measures, intercultural contacts in antiquity, the Presocratics

    Scopus subject areas

  • Arts and Humanities(all)

ID: 141102119