Hecataeus of Miletus believed the earth was flat and surrounded by water.

For example Hecataeus of Miletus, a geographer and historian in ancient Greece, described inhabitants of the ancient world as well as physical features.

Modern historians regard the chronology as uncertain but, according to the ancient account, these predecessors included for example Dionysius of Miletus, Charon of Lampsacus, Hellanicus of Lesbos, Xanthus of Lydia and, the best attested of them all, Hecataeus of Miletus.

Hecataeus of Miletus was the first known to use the term around 500 BC.

Astronomical models of the universe were proposed soon after astronomy began with the Babylonian astronomers, who viewed the universe as a flat disk floating in the ocean, and this forms the premise for early Greek maps like those of Anaximander and Hecataeus of Miletus.

In the 6th century BC, Hecataeus of Miletus affirms that Phoenicia was formerly called χνα, a name that Philo of Byblos subsequently adopted into his mythology as his eponym for the Phoenicians: " Khna who was afterwards called Phoinix ".

One of the earliest Greek historians, Hecataeus of Miletus, was said to have written a book about Deucalion, but it no longer survives.

* Hecataeus of Miletus, frag.

Most ancient Greeks, however, did not subscribe to such a literalist view of using mythology to attempt to date the creation ; Hecataeus of Miletus was an early ancient Greek logographer who strongly criticised this method, while Ptolemy wrote of such an " immense period " of time before the historical period ( 776 BC ), and thus believed in a much greater age for the creation.

Other ancient writers who described the hair of the Thracians as red include Hecataeus of Miletus, Galen, Clement of Alexandria, and Julius Firmicus Maternus.

Hecataeus of Miletus ( c. 550 BC – c. 476 BC ) ( Greek Ἑκαταῖος ), named after the Greek goddess Hecate, was an early Greek historian of a wealthy family.

When Aristagoras held a council of the leading Ionians at Miletus to organize a revolt against the Persian rule, Hecataeus in vain tried to dissuade his countrymen from the undertaking.

Hecataeus ' work, especially the Genealogiai, shows a marked scepticism of oral history, opening with " Hecataeus of Miletus thus speaks: I write what I deem true ; for the stories of the Greeks are manifold and seem to me ridiculous.

* Iranica: article on Hecataeus of Miletus, bibliography

For example, Hecataeus of Miletus believed that the Rhipean Mountains were adjacent to the Black Sea.

The form of the periplus is at least as old as the earliest Greek historian, the Ionian Hecataeus of Miletus.

Max MüllerInterest in the general study of religion dates back to at least Hecataeus of Miletus ( ca.

The first state that was called Armenia by neighboring peoples ( such as Hecataeus of Miletus and on the Behistun Inscription ) was established in the early 6th century BC under the Orontid dynasty, which later became a kingdom.

The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources ( among others, Hecataeus of Miletus, Avienus, Herodotus and Strabo ) identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC.

Hecataeus of Miletus ( 500 BCE ) and Herodotus ( 483 – 431 BCE ) also wrote about the Indus Satrapy of the Persians.

Therefore, Pherecydes cannot be classed with the earlier mythographer Hecataeus of Miletus, whose Genealogiai (" Genealogies ") were more skeptical and critical.

Hecataeus of Miletus, who lived in 500 BC, cites Arintha as the City of Bretia of Enotra origin.

Hyperborea was identified with Britain first by Hecataeus of Abdera in the 4th century BC, as in a preserved fragment by Diodorus Siculus:

Hecataeus wrote the work Aegyptiaca or On the Egyptians ( the same title of Manetho's later work ), both suggestions are based on known titles of other ethnographic works, an account of Egypt ’ s customs, beliefs and geography, and the single largest fragment from this lost work is held to be Diodorus ' account of the Ramesseum, tomb of Osymandyas ( i. 47-50 ).

Yet, one modern scholar, reading between the lines, has described the work of Hecataeus as " a curious false start to history " because, despite its critical spirit, it failed to liberate history from myth.

It is possible that Herodotus borrowed much material from Hecataeus, as stated by Porphyry in a quote recorded by Eusebius.

Hecataeus, says Herodotus, had seen the same spectacle, after mentioning that he traced his descent, through sixteen generations, from a god.

Additional information on the Hyperboreans can be found in Strabo and Pliny the Elder, who might have gotten their information from Hecataeus.

Hecataeus of Miletus ( 6th – 5th century BC ), in his Genealogiai, was the first of them to attempt ( not entirely successfully ) to separate the mythic past from the true historic past, which marked a crucial step in the development of genuine historiography.

The earliest non-Biblical account of the Exodus is in the writings of the Greek author Hecataeus of Abdera: the Egyptians blame a plague on foreigners and expel them from the country, whereupon Moses, their leader, takes them to Canaan, where he founds the city of Jerusalem.

The other known work of Hecataeus was the Genealogiai, a rationally systematized account of the traditions and the myths of the Greeks, a break with the epic myth-making tradition, which survives in a few fragments, just enough to show what we are missing.

Some have credited Hecataeus with a work entitled Περίοδος γῆς (" Travels round the Earth " or " World Survey '), written in two books.

The air of Abdera was proverbial in Athens as causing stupidity, but the city counted among its citizens the philosophers Democritus, Protagoras and Anaxarchus, and historian and philosopher Hecataeus of Abdera.

Droge also points out that this statement by Hecataeus was similar to statements made subsequently by Eupolemus

Hecataeus is the first known Greek historian, and was one of the first classical writers to mention the Celtic people.

Hecataeus described the countries and inhabitants of the known world, the account of Egypt being particularly comprehensive ; the descriptive matter was accompanied by a map, based upon Anaximander ’ s map of the earth, which he corrected and enlarged.

Hecataeus of Abdera and others believed Hyperborea was Britain ( see below ).

Aristagoras was supported by most of the citizens, except the historian Hecataeus.

The name of Kashyapa is by history and tradition connected with the draining of the lake, and the chief town or collection of dwellings in the valley was called Kashyapa-pura, which has been identified with Kaspapyros of Hecataeus ( apud Stephanus of Byzantium ) and Kaspatyros of Herodotus ( 3. 102, 4. 44 ).

* Greek World – To reenact the classical Mediterranean, a special map was made, based on Hecataeus ' map of the world, as it was known by the Greeks.

Hecataeus of Abdera ( or of Teos ) was a Greek historian and sceptic philosopher who flourished in the 4th century BC.

The name of Kashyapa is by history and tradition connected with the draining of the lake, and the chief town or collection of dwellings in the valley was called Kashyapa-pura, which has been identified with Kaspapyros of Hecataeus ( apud Stephanus of Byzantium ) and Kaspatyros of Herodotus ( 3. 102, 4. 44 ).

* After being invited to dine at a public table, the sophist Hecataeus was criticized for failing to utter a single word during the entire meal.