TY - JOUR

T1 - The Cosmography and Cosmology of Wang Chong in the Light of Greek and Latin Parallels

AU - Панченко, Дмитрий Вадимович

AU - Терехов, Антон Эдуардович

N1 - Dmitri Panchenko, Anthony Terekhov. The Cosmography and Cosmology of Wang Chong in the Light of Greek and Latin Parallels // ΣΧΟΛΗ. 2025. Т. 19. 2, 844 – 869. DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-844-869

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Ван Чун, древнекитайская философия, древнегреческая астрономия и космология, досократики, Дикеарх, Эратосфен, античные меры длины, межкультурные контакты в древности

KW - Dicaearchus

KW - Eratosthenes

KW - Wang Chong

KW - ancient Chinese philosophy

KW - ancient Greek astronomy and cosmology

KW - ancient linear measures

KW - intercultural contacts in antiquity

KW - the Presocratics

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/79bfefb9-90a0-3e65-b722-45f0c45baefa/

U2 - 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-844-869

DO - 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-844-869

M3 - Article

VL - 19

SP - 844

EP - 869

JO - SCHOLE. ФИЛОСОФСКОЕ АНТИКОВЕДЕНИЕ И КЛАССИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ

JF - SCHOLE. ФИЛОСОФСКОЕ АНТИКОВЕДЕНИЕ И КЛАССИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ

SN - 1995-4328

IS - 2

ER -