Development of Ptolemy’s geocartographic ideas in medieval Islamic geography

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of perception and the development of scientific ideas in a particular society. This problem is considered on the example of geocartographical ideas of Ptolemy, formed in the late Hellenistic period, in the Middle Ages experienced a rebirth in the context of a completely different cultural traditions, namely in the Islamic society, and then in the early Modern period continued to develop in different historical conditions - in Europe. The article shows that in the Islamic world two directions of the perception of Ptolemaic ideas have been formed. The first one can be called a proper continuity, which provided the development of scientific ideas as such; the results achieved by the scientists of the Caliphate in this direction have become known to the world science and subsequently received further development in the works of European cartographers. At the same time the development of another direction, that adapted the Ptolemaic ideas to the needs of the educated classes of the Islamic society, can be traced; results of these activities, which facilitated the absorption of scientific tradition in terms of the Islamic culture, has not gone beyond the Islamic cultural circle.