Silver State in Winnemucca, Nevada

Early Greek Maps and Myths of the World’s Edge

Ancient writers imagined a flat earth bordered by ocean, with a central Mediterranean, Gibraltar at the west, and Pillars of Hercules guarding the unknown. The heaven lay above the plain, Tar tarus housed wicked spirits, while Tartarus below mapped a dual cosmos. Northlands held Hyperboreans and Cimmerians, with Elysium in the far west and Calypso’s isle nearby.