Did Caesar Augustus, who claimed to rule the whole world, know the world was round? or hear of north america?

Question

And how far did the roman empire extend east?

Answer 1

Much of the world that the Roman Empire ruled had already been 'discovered' or colonised by during the period of Greek colonisation and expansion, or during the time of Alexander the Great as far as India.

But as far as Rome was concerned, her empire centred around the Mediterranean. While Rome under Caesar pushed far north into Germania and Britain, it was the Mediterranean world which the Romans regarded as their centre of their world of trade.

The importance of the East to the Romans came to be realised as trade with the East grew. Under Constantine the Great, realising Rome too isolated to really run the Empire, the capital was moved to Byzantium - and re-named Constantinople - to allow the Romans to effectively control trade with Egypt, Antioch and the East.

The Romans went right into Mesopotamia and modern Iraq, Syria.

A good map of the Roman Empire and its expansion east is on the link below.

Answer 2

Every educated person in the Roman world in the time of Augustus knew the world was round.

The Americas and the Antipodes were largely just speculation at the time to the Romans, although some now believe there may have been isolated trading voyages to the Americas.

At its height in approximately AD 116, the Roman Empire extended east to modern southwest Iran, although this territory was not held long at all. During the Principate of Augustus, the Empire itself extended east to Syria.

Answer 3

Probably not. Although the thesis that the world was actually round had been proposed centuries before Augustus by the Greek Eratosthenes. As for North America, no, never heard. The world as far as it concerned the ancients, was flat. For the Romans, the world was from the Straights of Gibraltar to India and possibly Cathay (China), Africa to the farthest regions of unconquered (barbarian) Germania. The Roman Empire extended to the borders of the Persian Empire at Mesopotamia and Armenia to the Caucasus during the reign of Trajan in AD 117.

Answer 4

Did Augustus claim to rule the whole world? The authority of St Matthew here is very suspect. Incidentally, Joseph would not have had to pay Roman taxes, as neither Nazareth nor Bethlehem was under direct Roman rule at the time of the birth of Christ.
Augustus certainly knew the world was round. The Greeks worked it out, and you can see that contemporary geographers like Strabo knew the world is round. Incidentally, they knew that in the time of Columbus too.
In the time of Augustus, the Roman Empire extended east to the River Euphrates. But Judaea was not under direct Roman rule until late in his reign, after the birth of Christ, when the misgovernment of Herod's son Archelaus forced a change.

Answer 5

Actually, Caesar Agustus, ruler of Rome is claming to conquer or rule the whole world, thought that the world is round. Yet because of the Greek influence of geometry and arithmetics. He did not also hear about North America and his boundaries is in the Mediterranean Sea. And far of the roman empire is from the city of the Middle East. But in the Late Roman Empire it only of the extent to the city of Byzantium.

Answer 6

By the time of Augustus (around the time of Christ) it was well known among educated people that the world was round (it had been proved by a librarian in Alexander, Egypt centuries earlier).
Ceasar was referring to the "civilized" world (in other words, in his mind anything that's not Roman isn't worth conquering). Even in his time, the Romans hadn't fully conquered the German tribes to the north of the Empire.
No, the European and Asian nations hadn't discovered North America yet.
The empire extended east into what is now Syria and Israel.

Answer 7

no. they first discovered N. America around 900 years ago and they figured out the world was round about 350 years ago. Caesar Augustus lived around 2000 years ago.