It seemly says to me that there was a common belief in a southern landmass but that no-one really knew what it looked like so each cartographer drew it according to his own guesses.
Of course, it's all a moot point really - the physical evidence points to more extensive ice covering Antarctica for much of the past 100,000 years.
As for the alleged Ptolemy map showing glaciers in N Europe - I note that this info is taken from Hapgood's Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings. I don't have that book to know whether any such map is actually depicted in it, or whether (as I suspect) Hapgood is himself simply himself quoting from an earlier work. If such a map exists I'd love to see it. How did these ancient cartographers depict glaciers and ice sheets on their maps I wonder? Maybe in reality the map simply shows a blank area for N Europe because the cartographer had no knowledge of what existed there?
Incidently, it's worth noting that Hancock frequently quotes Hapgood and other authors without bothering to check the original sources. This has led to a number of errors that I know of - some of which will no doubt be discussed later on
