1572 / 1610 Roma

This marvelous map of sixteenth century Rome comes from Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum, the atlas of cities of the world recognized as one of the greatest achievements of late 16th and early 17th century European cartography. The bird’s-eye view of the city depicts Rome as it appeared circa 1550, with extant ruins of the ancient city easy to find. Braun took great pains to provide detailed information in print, and provided a numbered guide in Latin to noteworthy sites in the two insets. A few of the features include the Pantheon, the Coliseum, the Arch of Constantine, and the Forum Romanum. In the lower quadrant can be seen the Papal Palace of the Vatican, and the Obelisk from the circus of Caligula and Nero. Latin text on the verso provides additional information about the city. We identify this example as the second state with the privilege added above the right identification key. The format of the text and page number 46 on the verso leads us to believe