Brill’s New Pauly

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Sahara
(364 words)

[German version]

(from Arabic ṣaḥrā, 'desert'; cf. Hdt. 2,32: τὰ ἐρῆμα τῆς Λιβύης/tà erêma tês Libýēs, 'the desert region of Libya'; Mela 1,50: deserta Africae). The indigenous people today call only individual parts of the S. by their own name. The largest desert on earth, situated in North Africa, with an expanse from the Atlantic in the west to the Red Sea in the east (c. 6000 km; c. 8 million km2). The S. underwent several cyclical climatic changes (Climate) in prehistoric times that shaped the vegetation and the natural profile; the last of these changes in the 1st…

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Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart), “Sahara”, in: Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e12224750>
First published online: 2006
First print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510



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