1598 Gades ab Occiduis Insulae Partibus. Cadiz from the Western Side of the Island.

This remarkable map depicts the ancient city of Cádiz as seen from the western side of the island. Created by Flemish artist and cartographer Joris (Georg) Hoefnagel, the view was engraved for inclusion in Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg’s monumental work Civitates Orbis Terrarum, or Great Cities of the World, one of the most influential city-view atlases of the sixteenth century. Ancient Origins and Composition The image centers on the Chapel of San Sebastián in the foreground, with the city and surrounding coastline forming a detailed panorama behind it. Cádiz, founded by the seafaring Phoenicians in the seventh century BCE, is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the Mediterranean world. Near the numbers fourteen and seventeen on the map, Hoefnagel includes ruins of the city’s ancient past, with seventeen labeled in the legend as Ruinas de Cadiz antiqua. The view thus bridges antiquity and the Renaissance, showing a city both steeped in legend and vibrant with activity.